A western with a Down Under twist
A bleak story presented with great style, "Sweet Country" (⋆⋆⋆, rated R for violence and language) is a finely made Australian western that demonstrates the malleability of the genre as well as the impressive gifts of indigenous filmmaker Warwick Thornton. While the familiar tropes are present, including murder, mayhem and a tough lawman, Thornton uses them to offer pointed commentary on relations between whites and indigenous peoples. A series of incendiary individuals and situations come together in a shootout that leaves a "white fella" dead. The film presents a world where whites and aborigines share English but never speak the same emotional or psychological language. Showing at St. Anthony Main.
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
