Mia Wasikowska’s face, body language, and vocal delivery are in perfect harmony with the countryside that surrounds her in Tracks: human figure and landscape are equally mysterious and unforgiving. The place is the Australian desert, where in 1975 a young woman named Robyn Davidson determined she would walk the 1,700 miles from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean. In writing a National Geographic article and subsequent best-selling book about the trek, Davidson offered little explanation for her impulse, and the movie is blunt about acknowledging that no coherent justification can be made on that score. She just needed to do it.
Wasikowska’s skeptical gaze and stony delivery are ideal for this tough character, and the actress never makes a bid for likability. We observe Davidson as she puts in months of camel training—she’ll need them to carry her stuff for the trip—even before she actually leaves Alice Springs. Once on the path, she endures/exploits the expectations of National Geographic photographer Rick (Adam Driver, from Girls—a necessary warm presence in this severe portrait), as he periodically meets her along the long miles of desert scrub. She also has her dog, Diggity, who remains spirit animal and soulmate for the trip; the only other fellow trekker is Mr. Eddy (Rolley Mintuma), a garrulous if largely unintelligible aboriginal guide who helps Davidson tread respectfully around sacred sites for a few weeks. Beyond that, it’s sand and sun and willpower.

Director John Curran (The Painted Veil) imagines this journey in an admirably terse way. We do hear Davidson’s words on the soundtrack, but for the most part the movie simply forges ahead; the romance-of-the-desert familiar from Lawrence of Arabia is kept at bay. This isn’t about conquering the land, but it’s not a reassuring journey of self-discovery, either—Davidson seems a little too close to yearning for oblivion for this to be about empowerment. If you’re getting the idea Tracks isn’t exactly cuddly, that’s true; it’s easier to get excited by something like Nicolas Roeg’s Walkabout (1971), a more lurid take on outback trekking, made just before Davidson took her real walkabout. But Tracks feels true in spirit to the kind of soul who really would take this journey, which explains why you’re right there with this solitary woman every step of the way. Opens Fri., Oct. 3 at Sundance. Rated PG-13. 102 minutes.film@seattleweekly.com