The Dry * * *

The Dry. At least you can get a beer.

A film called The Dry flooded the market on New Years Day. How's that for irony?  Damn thing seemed to be everywhere.  It was like you were given no choice but to see it.  So I gave in and went and saw it. 
    I knew knowing nothing about the story, other than it was going to be a crime drama set in an Australian country town at the height of the recent drought, it stars Eric Bana, and it's adapted from a best selling novel of the same name.
    It's a competent drama with some very fine acting and photography.  That we are in a shockingly dry area is well conveyed - without CGI.  Most Australians have driven through such areas and seen fields slowly turning to barren earth, next to no livestock left and no crops coming through. 
    In this drought plagued area, in a small town, an appalling murder suicide takes place - or at least that's what it looks like, but more questions need to be asked.  Eric Bana plays a detective who has to return to the town for the funeral. But he is held in contempt there by many of the locals because he is blamed for another tragic event from twenty years earlier.  So really there are two mysteries to be solved.      
    I mostly liked the look and feel of the movie.  You could almost smell the heat, dust and despair. Though it was confusing for a while, especially with the youths in flashback, as I tried to figure out who was who.  However it became quite clear about the half way mark.  Then it all became too clear and then it became silly. Really!? Forensics couldn't figure that out?! And really, didn't anyone see there was something dodgy about that girls home life?  Especially in a small town. And the confusion of a name on a piece of paper was almost a childlike plot device.  
     Most of the scenes are very well directed and acted, though I felt the crescendo of  heavy handed slow motion, multiple flashbacks, and deafening soundtrack when the first mystery was uncovered did the film an injustice.  The explanation of the second mystery rather reminded me a bit of the ending of Strange But True.  Logical, but so conspicuously ugly you can't help but wonder how come no one saw it.