The Nightingale * * * *
This uncompromising drama unfolds intelligently and engagingly. You won't be checking the watch whilst watching this one. Though I am told that when it was shown at Sundance some people pretended to look at their watch ... or their lap ... or the ceiling, or anywhere but the screen. The Nightingale is a pretty violent drama.
Director Jennifer Kent has written a tight script. It's nearly 140 minutes long and I didn't notice it. The only waffle in regard to this film seems to come from over enthusiastic critics with another agenda, claiming The Nightingale is a definitive statement on violence against women and the dispossession of the Australian aborigine. (Yeah, well, if that's what you want it to be ......)
For me, such proclamations seem to suggest that the viewer is uncomfortable in receiving a story which includes cruelty and violence. I'ts like they want to believe that director Jennifer Kent had to put that nasty stuff in there to make a point, like it's merely symbolic. I feel such interpretations are disrespectful of Kent's admirable historical research and determination to show just how bloody awful it was in Van Diemens Land a hundred fifty years ago, especially for a convict or an aborigine.
There are some very harrowing rape and murder scenes in this film. But such scenes are in many other stories and we mostly accept them as being part of the story and not necessarily a moral message or sermon. Not nice, but that's the way it probably was.
What I saw was an excellent drama that well reflected the ugliness and brutality of the early days in Australia, especially in Tasmania. I didn't see gratuitous violence, and I certainly didn't see The Nightingale as an analogous message for modern times.
A female convict held as a servant at a military garrison is pushed way past her breaking point. There is nothing left for her now but revenge. And so with a black tracker she sets off into the wilderness to hunt down those that have wronged her. Immensely cautious of one the other at first, their shared pain and oppression becomes their bonding as they journey together.
It's a very good story and film. A fine piece of drama, beautifully filmed I might say. The acting from the entire cast is exemplary. Jennifer Kent is the same director who gave us the much celebrated The Babadook in 2014. I look forward to more work from this brave director.
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| This is the face of revenge? You better believe it! |
For me, such proclamations seem to suggest that the viewer is uncomfortable in receiving a story which includes cruelty and violence. I'ts like they want to believe that director Jennifer Kent had to put that nasty stuff in there to make a point, like it's merely symbolic. I feel such interpretations are disrespectful of Kent's admirable historical research and determination to show just how bloody awful it was in Van Diemens Land a hundred fifty years ago, especially for a convict or an aborigine.
There are some very harrowing rape and murder scenes in this film. But such scenes are in many other stories and we mostly accept them as being part of the story and not necessarily a moral message or sermon. Not nice, but that's the way it probably was.
What I saw was an excellent drama that well reflected the ugliness and brutality of the early days in Australia, especially in Tasmania. I didn't see gratuitous violence, and I certainly didn't see The Nightingale as an analogous message for modern times.
A female convict held as a servant at a military garrison is pushed way past her breaking point. There is nothing left for her now but revenge. And so with a black tracker she sets off into the wilderness to hunt down those that have wronged her. Immensely cautious of one the other at first, their shared pain and oppression becomes their bonding as they journey together.
It's a very good story and film. A fine piece of drama, beautifully filmed I might say. The acting from the entire cast is exemplary. Jennifer Kent is the same director who gave us the much celebrated The Babadook in 2014. I look forward to more work from this brave director.
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