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- two thematic precursors to2VDDS "NTMSQX.
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Working once again as his own cinematographer, Thornton
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scale.Instead,2VDDS "NTMSQX’s restrained camera move
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scapes evoke the epic sweep and grandeur of classic
westerns like3GD ,@M EQNL +@Q@LHD(Anthony Mann,
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cranked outdoor screening of3GD 2SNQX NE SGD DKKX &@MF
(Charles Tait, 1906). This intertextual reference connects
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origins of cinema in this country through to the portrayals
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an outlaw hero in the mainstream national consciousness.
In a similar way, Thornton’s6D #NMS -DDC @ ,@Osurveys
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"NTMSQX’s grim irony, the same white settlers who cheer
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he faces his day in court for the killing of Harry March.
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"NTMSQXemploys western archetypes to level an uncomfort
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latter offers a slim hope that another way may be possible.
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‘Peace in the Valley’, a sardonic rejoinder to the blood
shed that has preceded it, implying that the only peace the
characters will know in this land is in the sleep of death.
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commemorative date should be moved, or the holiday abol
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us. As Thornton asserted at AFF, ‘This is our story, Australia’s
story.’^7 2VDDS "NTMSQXsuggests that individual decency and
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alism comes back to wound everyone in the end.Nicholas Godfrey is a lecturer in Screen and Media at Flinders
University in South Australia, and the author ofThe Limits
of Auteurism: Case Studies in the Critically Constructed
New Hollywood. He is a regular contributor toMetro and
2BQDDMŰ$CTB@SHNM. mEndnotes(^1) ‘Wilberta Jack Acquitted of Murder of Harry Henty’,Northern
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been used here.
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(^3) ibid.
(^4) ibid.
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(^6) Thornton,Sweet CountrySRVWVFUHHQLQJ4 $RSFLW
ibid.
InSweet Country’s grim irony, the same white settlers who cheer for Ned Kelly’s
violent stand against the police become a Greek chorus of sorts, baying for
Sam Kelly’s blood when he faces his day in court for the killing of Harry March.