Post by stephen on Jul 5, 2018 5:32:09 GMT
I'd been looking forward to this ever since Venice last year, despite me going in knowing very little about it except that it was an Australian Western with Bryan Brown and Sam Neill.
Australian films tend to be some of the most lusciously shot in existence (The Proposition and the recent Revenge are testament to this), and Sweet Country really shows just how gorgeous it is Down Under. Warwick Thornton, who in addition to director also acts as his own DP, shoots the vast expanses of desert outback and dizzying vistas with the eagle's eye of John Toll at his peak. There are several shots that would rank among not just the very best of the year, but of the decade itself. The cinematography itself is more than worth the price of admission.
Not that the rest of the film itself falls by the wayside. This is a very fascinating look at racial tension and frontier justice in an environment that doesn't really get examined as much as it does here. The story focuses on an Aboriginal man who is forced on the run because of a split-second decision that results in tragedy, and how it affects not just his direct family but the image of Aboriginal people in the community. His brethren are forced to not just deny him, but in order to "fit in," they must rebuke him, hunt him down, revile him. Hamilton Morris is revelatory as the solemn, silently tormented man who knows that to flee means to all but admit guilt, but to remain is to die. Bryan Brown, as stolid an actor to ever come from Australia, is in fine form as a haggard sergeant desperate to put the chains on the fugitive, whatever the cost. And Sam Neill, equally reliable, lends a good-natured gravitas to the proceedings as the only real friend Morris's character has in this bleak, unrelenting world. There are a handful of good supporting roles (Thomas M. Wright deserved his own movie, to be honest, and the young twins who played Philomac were very strong as well), but the nature of the film centers it firmly on Morris's shoulders, and he carries it remarkably.
Australian films tend to be some of the most lusciously shot in existence (The Proposition and the recent Revenge are testament to this), and Sweet Country really shows just how gorgeous it is Down Under. Warwick Thornton, who in addition to director also acts as his own DP, shoots the vast expanses of desert outback and dizzying vistas with the eagle's eye of John Toll at his peak. There are several shots that would rank among not just the very best of the year, but of the decade itself. The cinematography itself is more than worth the price of admission.
Not that the rest of the film itself falls by the wayside. This is a very fascinating look at racial tension and frontier justice in an environment that doesn't really get examined as much as it does here. The story focuses on an Aboriginal man who is forced on the run because of a split-second decision that results in tragedy, and how it affects not just his direct family but the image of Aboriginal people in the community. His brethren are forced to not just deny him, but in order to "fit in," they must rebuke him, hunt him down, revile him. Hamilton Morris is revelatory as the solemn, silently tormented man who knows that to flee means to all but admit guilt, but to remain is to die. Bryan Brown, as stolid an actor to ever come from Australia, is in fine form as a haggard sergeant desperate to put the chains on the fugitive, whatever the cost. And Sam Neill, equally reliable, lends a good-natured gravitas to the proceedings as the only real friend Morris's character has in this bleak, unrelenting world. There are a handful of good supporting roles (Thomas M. Wright deserved his own movie, to be honest, and the young twins who played Philomac were very strong as well), but the nature of the film centers it firmly on Morris's shoulders, and he carries it remarkably.
