“A murky tale of a distraught family in a foreign land.”
As dusty as its Australian outback setting, Kim Farrant’s
debut feature Strangerland is a
story about the mysterious disappearance of two children and the horrifying
echoes it sent to their estranged parents and to the backward community.
Combining elements of noir, suspense, mystery and police investigation, the
film creatively uses metaphors to explore human turmoil and pathos.
The Parker family is new to the secluded fictional Australian desert town of Nathgari. The matriarch Catherine (Nicole Kidman) is not close to anyone, as much as to his husband Matthew (Joseph Fiennes) who is not even sharing a room with her. They have two children – son Tommy (Nicholas Hamilton) who walks in his sleep and 15-year-old Lily (Madison Brown) who is in her sexual plateau. Parading around in her undies, Lily flirts with every man and this reckless behavior irritates her father that he assigns Tommy as her chaperone.
The Parker family is new to the secluded fictional Australian desert town of Nathgari. The matriarch Catherine (Nicole Kidman) is not close to anyone, as much as to his husband Matthew (Joseph Fiennes) who is not even sharing a room with her. They have two children – son Tommy (Nicholas Hamilton) who walks in his sleep and 15-year-old Lily (Madison Brown) who is in her sexual plateau. Parading around in her undies, Lily flirts with every man and this reckless behavior irritates her father that he assigns Tommy as her chaperone.
An inexplicable turn of event soon disturbs the shaky family
and the sleepy town. On the eve of a massive dust storm, Lily and Tommy
disappear into the desert. Local cop David Rae (Hugo Weaving) leads the search
in the succeeding days. Incidentally, Rae is romantically involved with an
Aboriginal woman named Coreen (Lisa Flanagan) whose mentally unstable younger
brother Burtie (Meyne Wyatt) may possible one of Lily’s sexual partners.
Consequently, Lily’s dark past of having sexual engagement
with her previous teacher is brought to open, reason that the family moved to
the town on the first place. The incident takes its toll on the couple, with
Matthew physically assaulting Burtie and Catherine being stained with damaging
rumors. Through this trial, the family will re-examine themselves and the
traumas that drove them to where they are now.
Strangerland is a
movie of strange layers. While it depicts how unfounded rumors in a small town
can be damaging and how difficult burying shameful pasts can be, it portrays
how human respond to such situations by drawing strength from within and from
people surrounding them. This holds true for the two main characters. While
Matthew channels his frustration through physical outburst, Catherine longs for
embraces and love. The film is quite evident about it as she constantly shows
sexual innuendos to her husband and to the men around. “She didn’t get it from
me, did she?” Matthew snaps at Catherine at some point in the film, hinting
that their daughter reflects Catherine’s own free-spirited sexuality.
As much as the fictional town had been covered with fine red
dust after the storm, the film is shrouded with ambiguity with its uneven,
murky and unpersuasive storytelling. Apparently, it leans more towards being
psychodrama as the mystery angles and police investigations are never fully
developed. It even broaches the local beliefs that the desert habitually takes
innocent victims. Mysteries pile one after another without clear answers until
the film ends with uncertainty of the family’s fate. On the first place, why
did Lily run away?
All actors give winning performance on this movie. While
Fiennes justifies Matthew’s nonchalance and disquiet with sexuality (he did not
even stand or move a bit from his seat while his wife rides on him), Weaving
exuded much prowess and virility as local cop Rae. With the unbalanced
personality of Catherine, Kidman has so much to play with and successfully
delivers praiseworthy results. Mostly full of anguish, she also sails between
being sexually needy and subtly savage within. She also showed believable
chemistry with her leading men, especially with Weaving as their characters
match each other.
Aside from the obvious commitment the actors had given to
the film, Strangerland also excels
in capturing the beauty of Australia – its desert, mountains and woods. Shot in
long frames, the wilderness stretches through vast space, giving a sense of
freedom from its muddled and suffocating narrative. Except with the CGI dust
storm, the summer light, desert heat and various colors add extra vibrancy and
mystery to the film. Yet, the dust mostly did not settle as the film ended.
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