BIG SCREEN. SMALL SCREEN. YOUR REVIEWS BIBLE STARTS HERE
THE NIGHTINGALE
DIRECTORJennifer Kent
CASTAisling Franciosi, Sam Claflin, Baykali
Ganambarr, Damon Herriman, Ewen LesliePLOTTasmania, 1825: As the British wage
war on the Indigenous population, Irish
convict Clare (Aisling Franciosi) hires Billy
(Baykali Ganambarr), an Indigenous tracker,
to help her hunt down the British officer,
Hawkins (Sam Claflin), responsible for
a horrific act of violence against her family.[FILM]
OUT29 AUGUST/ 136
HHHHH MINS /RATEDTBCTHE NIGHTINGALEIS not the first time that
Australian cinema has tackled the horrific excesses
of the so-called Frontier Wars, but never before has
it been done so with such unflinching, merciless,
brutality. While Warwick Thornton’sSweet
Countryis redolent with mournful sorrow and John
Hillcoat’sThe Propositionis a savagely violent
anti-Western, neither can match the sheer, relentless
rage that animates director Jennifer Kent’s bleak
drama. Hers is a film that seeks not to entertain the
viewer, but to punish, holding us accountable for
our complicity in atrocity both historical and
contemporary, racist and misogynist.
The plot is simplicity itself: Irish convict Clare is
raped, brutalised, and left for dead by Hawkins, the
commanding officer of the local garrison. Clare
survives and, vowing vengeance, sets off in pursuit
of her attacker, who is traveling north to the city of
Launceston to petition for a promised promotion.
We follow Clare as she ventures into the primordial
interior of the island with her hired tracker Billy,HHHHH
EXCELLENT
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GOOD
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OKAY
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POOR
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AWFUL
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EDITED BY IAN FREER]
5 AUGUST- 1 SEPT