Okay, this movie has an interesting and gripping plot that can easily be done from start to finish in about half-an-hour. David Gulpilil is his usual, wonderful self, and carries this film. He plays a tracker, as part of a 1920's manhunt, led by a brutish territorial policeman, a rookie, and an older man. Gulpilil, although a free civilian, is treated more like a prisoner, eventually getting chained to the police commander, who doesn't trust any aboriginals.
The commander orders a massacre of innocent aborigines, spews all sorts of racist comments on how Aborigines are murderous animals that cannot be trusted, and bullies all of his companions, even killing a wounded man just so the mission will not be slowed down. Eventually, the harsh Australian outback gets the best of them, and Gulpilil performs an act of frontier justice that is really satisfying when it comes.
My only complaint about this movie is that it is padded out to 90 minutes by endless montages of the team walking through the outback. The scenes are accompanies by the same couple of songs about the suffering of Aborigines, which we hear over and over again, because there are a lot of slow, walking montages. The actual dialog and drama in this film, as I said previously, would only take half-an-hour if these montages were eliminated. This really makes the film slow and boring.
However, the film is not unbearable, and actually has good drama, if you are patient. The character-study is well done, and the issues of racism and justice are explored very eloquently. The ending is very predictable, but still manages to have a surprise twist to it. The movie is worth seeing, but only if you have the patience. As I said, it's very padded with long montages that may bore many people.
The commander orders a massacre of innocent aborigines, spews all sorts of racist comments on how Aborigines are murderous animals that cannot be trusted, and bullies all of his companions, even killing a wounded man just so the mission will not be slowed down. Eventually, the harsh Australian outback gets the best of them, and Gulpilil performs an act of frontier justice that is really satisfying when it comes.
My only complaint about this movie is that it is padded out to 90 minutes by endless montages of the team walking through the outback. The scenes are accompanies by the same couple of songs about the suffering of Aborigines, which we hear over and over again, because there are a lot of slow, walking montages. The actual dialog and drama in this film, as I said previously, would only take half-an-hour if these montages were eliminated. This really makes the film slow and boring.
However, the film is not unbearable, and actually has good drama, if you are patient. The character-study is well done, and the issues of racism and justice are explored very eloquently. The ending is very predictable, but still manages to have a surprise twist to it. The movie is worth seeing, but only if you have the patience. As I said, it's very padded with long montages that may bore many people.