I was thrilled to find out that I had another film featuring David Gulpilil, the young Aboriginal actor who entered motion picture immortality as the male lead of "Walkabout", the 1970 cult film that was quite groundbreaking. He's basically playing the same part, except for the fact that the setting is approximately 100 years before during the reign of Queen Victoria, and he comes to the rescue of an Irish criminal played by Dennis Hopper. Exhausted from walking after getting out of prison, he encounters Gulpilil who nurses him back to health, not realizing that there is a price on his head.
Fans of "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" and "Muriel's Wedding" will recognize Bill Hunter as one of the men after Hopper. The photography is stunning but the film itself is often very graphic and extremely violent. Hopper gets tortured when he enters prison, and there's also a shot of a man with an open wound being approached by what seems to be a very hungry dog.
While this is allegedly based on a true story, the character of Morgan has been greatly humanized to make him more palatable, and it's obvious that the real Morgan would not be a great topic to try to gain any sympathy for. Hopper is excellent, and Gulpilil shows the type of gentle hospitality and caring that made him fascinating to watch in "Walkabout", having matured a great deal in 6 years but still having a bit of Innocence about him. Worth seeing if the viewer can handle some of the more graphic scenes.
Fans of "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" and "Muriel's Wedding" will recognize Bill Hunter as one of the men after Hopper. The photography is stunning but the film itself is often very graphic and extremely violent. Hopper gets tortured when he enters prison, and there's also a shot of a man with an open wound being approached by what seems to be a very hungry dog.
While this is allegedly based on a true story, the character of Morgan has been greatly humanized to make him more palatable, and it's obvious that the real Morgan would not be a great topic to try to gain any sympathy for. Hopper is excellent, and Gulpilil shows the type of gentle hospitality and caring that made him fascinating to watch in "Walkabout", having matured a great deal in 6 years but still having a bit of Innocence about him. Worth seeing if the viewer can handle some of the more graphic scenes.