★★★★☆
31 July 2019
A movie review of THE NIGHTINGALE. |
“Sure you want to follow them? They are mad devils,” Billy (Baykali Ganambarr)
THE NIGHTINGALE is unrelenting. That’s two for two from Jennifer Kent. From the modern horror excellence of THE BABADOOK [2014], the talented writer-director has expanded her scope to deal with the mass extinguishing of life. The mass exploitation of people. This film is a merciless, unyieldingly brutal Australian revenge drama. An eviscerating indictment on enslavement, imperialism, and racism.
THE NIGHTINGALE is unrelenting. That’s two for two from Jennifer Kent. From the modern horror excellence of THE BABADOOK [2014], the talented writer-director has expanded her scope to deal with the mass extinguishing of life. The mass exploitation of people. This film is a merciless, unyieldingly brutal Australian revenge drama. An eviscerating indictment on enslavement, imperialism, and racism.
Shot in claustrophobic Academy aspect ratio – 1.375:1, the Australian countryside is shorn of its grandeur. Instead, it is shown to be an inescapable arena of cruelty. THE NIGHTINGALE is a look at the past and how it hangs over the present. It is heartening how Australian creativity is examining the barbaric legacy of the British Empire, from SWEET COUNTRY [2017] to the second season of WOLF CREEK [2018].
Clare (Aisling Franciosi) is one of the foci. She is nicknamed “The Nightingale” because of her singing voice. An Irish convict transported to the southern hemisphere, she is a slave to the senior soldier of a British garrison. More and more cinema from the around the world is dealing with the evils of the British Empire. You may think Lieutenant Hawkins (Sam Claflin) is two-dimensional malevolence, but he is also a cypher – representing imperialism that cannot be reasoned with. If a person has no conscience, then they are perhaps only motivated by desire and fear. (NB/ The title of Stanley Kubrick’s debut FEAR AND DESIRE [1953].)
1825. Van Diemen’s Land, Australia. (Interesting pronunciation of “Diemen”.) In one of the most gruelling scenes of the year so far, Clare is brought maybe as low as a human can be. The authorities are indifferent to justice. What is inflicted on Clare drives her towards vengeance in the vacuum of the rule of law and with nothing left to lose. She enlists the help of an Aboriginal tracker, Billy, who is an alcoholic due to his own deep tragedy. The story looks at how the absence of moral rulers also leads to self-harm on individual and community levels.
Oppressed people have to stand together – women, people of colour, the poor, etc. Those in power, and their shills, divide and conquer. The two protagonists are nicknamed after birds. A compassionate audience internally beseech for their freedom. Layers upon layers of mistreatment are presented. There is little catharsis (it is not DJANGO UNCHAINED [2012] for instance). There is little hope, though that this film exists is arguably a little hope in itself.