Bit of a switch today. This “western” takes place in the outback of
Queensland in modern-day Australia. Its central character is an Aboriginal
police detective (Aaron Pedersen) investigating the murder of an indigenous
girl whose body is found near a highway used by long-haul truckers.
He gets little cooperation, least of all from his sergeant (Tony Barren)
and fellow officers. One of them (Hugo Weaving) seems suspiciously involved in
what amounts to a toxic plague of local criminal activity, including teenage
prostitution and a meth lab.
Pedersen has returned to home turf after a ten-year absence, making
tentative connection with an ex-wife (Tasma Walton) and their daughter (Tricia
Whitton). Neither reveal much interest in reconnecting with him. The ex-wife
is a drinker; the daughter is clearly in harm’s way.
Home turf for Pedersen is a flat, arid landscape that could pass for
West Texas. A drive along the dusty streets of his hometown may take one past
scenes of police officers frisking teenagers spread-eagled against fences and
cars. Animosity by whites toward Aboriginals is undisguised, as when a ’roo
hunter (Ryan Kwanten) greets Pedersen with an icy exchange during a routine
call at the young man’s cabin.
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| Aaron Pedersen |
Parallels with the traditional western are many in the film, starting
with Pedersen’s straw hat, snap-front shirt, sidearm, jeans, and boots. Likewise, he’s a
single man working alone to find a killer somewhere along a fine line between
whites and indigenous characters in a frontier community, far from
civilization.
In the end, as if inspired by Gunfight
at the OK Corral, there is a spectacular shootout involving an array of
weapons, including powerful long-range hunting rifles, with that heart stopping
film effect of impact that follows long seconds of silence after firing (seen before in Quigley Down Under).
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| Tasma Walton |
A caveat for western fans is the film’s slow pace (2 hours). Many
wordless scenes pass as we watch Pedersen in his investigation, often with
little indication of what he is looking for or finding. Still, he is a physically
commanding presence on screen, with an often-stoic expression; it’s hard to
take your eyes off him. Watch him especially—his body language and measured
voice—in the high-tension scene with Kwanten.
Part of the film’s length owes to its almost documentary-style
portrayal, of the social and economic conditions where its story takes place.
As a result, secondary characters are often played with notable depth,
especially the heartbreaking performance of Tasma Walton and the animated role
of Old Boy (Jack Charles), as an old-timer observer of the disintegration of
his tribal community. Here is a trailer for the film:
Mystery Road is currently
available at Netflix and on DVD and streaming video at amazon and
Barnes&Noble. For more of Tuesday's Overlooked Movies, click on over to Todd Mason's blog, Sweet Freedom.
Further reading/viewing:
Coming up: Jenny Shank, The Ringer
Sounds different enough to intrigue me. I've long been interested in the original Australian population, primarily from an anthropological point of view. Very interesting people.
ReplyDeleteAustralia is a fascinating country with all its landscape variations and and animals. This movie would certainly keep me occupied for a couple of hours, but that music in the trailer would get awful boring.
ReplyDeleteMy own guess is that the film may have been drastically cut down from the script for a TV series; there are potentially interesting subplots that are mentioned or touched on and not followed and one scene- effective in itself- with no connexion at all to the rest of the film. it's a fine film, all the same, with some subtle and delicate touches.
ReplyDeleteTrailer makes it look like my type of film. I love a good western mystery. Having spent some time in Queensland I am always looking for movies from Australia to remind me that I really was down under a few years ago.
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