«Sweet Country, an atypical western

Cinema Wednesdays - Jonas Follonier

The film opens with water boiling. Water that appears black, due to the color of the pot. Central color in Sweet Country, There are no Indians or the great American West: this western is set in 1920s Australia and depicts the racial tensions of the time, between Aborigines and whites. The vocabulary is harsh: «black cattle», «dirty nigger», the film is quick to call out the qualifiers, reminiscent in some respects of the latest Tarantino film. Black is also the darkness of a bedroom where a rape is taking place.

And it's the story of one black man in particular that will be the focus of the film: farmhand Sam Kelly (Hamilton Morris), who must flee with his wife after killing a white man. Sergeant Fletcher (Bryan Brown) is in hot pursuit. This journey is sublime. It relies on virtuoso photography, with a succession of orange-colored shots of the vast expanses of the’outback, The film takes us into the vast, arid hinterland, while also introducing us to the vegetation of the Australian plains. Contrasting with this aestheticism is pure realism, marked in particular by the total absence of music. We follow the breathing, the doubts, the fatigue, the few words of the characters.

These are filmed in an original way: for example, the viewer sees the sergeant's first appearance «from underneath» and «from behind», as the camera is positioned on a doorway and follows the character's exit. Even if Sweet Country respects the tradition of the classic western, the temporality is innovative: the flashbacks and flashforwards are brought to life as nested, silent scenes, with the sound effects of the present-day scene still heard in the background. All this work is admirable, and the face of the unknown Hamilton Morris, a veritable cinematic mug, is a find in itself.

However, director Warwick Thornton is to be criticized for taking too long - some 30 minutes - to get to the trigger, the murder of the white man, which marks the real beginning of the film. In addition, one or two songs country or a few simple acoustic guitar instrumentals would not have detracted from the originality of the production - quite the contrary. Lastly, the film's lauded visual gamble could have been accompanied by a deepening of the characters' complexity. All in all, Sweet Country is still a very good western, combining tradition and uniqueness, which will appeal to western fans and film buffs in general.

Write to the author : jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: © Prasens-Film