Page 12 - Metro

This spread, L–R: ,UCY 3HANIKA #OLE 3AM AND ,IZZIE S PURSUERS AIDED BY TRACKER !RCHIE 'IBSON *OHN RIGHT 0HILOMAC

WZLQV ZHUH VSRWWHG E\ 7KRUQWRQ DW WKH <LSLULQ\D 6FKRRO LQ In 2VDDS "NTMSQX, Thornton works on the level of allegory.
$OLFH 6SULQJV KH ZDV VWUXFN E\ WKH LQWURYHUWHG TXDOLWLHV RI He bypasses exposition by offering quick, wordless visual
one brother and the extroversion of the other, and thought ĻDVKHV WKDW HVWDEOLVK KLV FKDUDFWHUV HDFK RI ZKRP VWDQGV
this contrast would bring an interesting dynamic to the in for a particular character type or institution that will be
character of Philomac, who is at once the agent of chaos familiar to viewers of westerns. Fred represents the Church,
and the impartial observer of the ensuing events. As with with his ardent yet misguided intent to bring ‘civilising’ mo
4
2@LRNM #DKHK@G, Thornton is able to elicit performances rality to an occupied land. Taylor embodies another order
RI WUHPHQGRXV QDWXUDOLVP IURP KLV \RXQJ DQG ĻHGJOLQJ of faith – that of the judicial process, which can see beyond
DFWRUV 6RPH RI WKH PRVW DIIHFWLQJ PRPHQWV LQ WKH ĺOP DUH prejudice and restore justice – while his opposite, Fletcher,
those shared between Archie and Philomac during lulls in LV WKH VDYDJHO\ VLQJOH PLQGHG SXUVXHU RI M@STQ@K justice,
the drama. In one scene, the elder Aboriginal man, sepa even if it takes him beyond the realms of the law. Archie,
rated from his country and living in servitude to the violent 6DP DQG 3KLORPDF DUH ,QGLJHQRXV $XVWUDOLDQV DW GLIIHUHQW
Mick, warns his young counterpart about the dangers of stages of ‘assimilating’ into their subaltern positions within
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KLPVHOI IDOOLQJ XQGHU .HQQHG\pV LQVLVWHQFH WKDW KH oJRWWD JHW and Fletcher’s romantic interest, represents the encroach
away from all of that blackfella shit’. LQJ IURQWLHU RI FRORQLVDWLRQ NHHSLQJ WKH KRPH ĺUHV ZDUP
Beyond such extraction from culture, 2VDDS "NTMSQX while the lawman plies his bloody trade in the outback.
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7KRUQWRQ FXWV WR D FORVH XS RI WKH EORRG SXPSLQJ IURP KLV imperial project: the war veteran who returns with the acute
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is blacked out one window at a time, leaving only thin slits KH GHVLUHV $QG /L]]LH LV D FDVH VWXG\ RI WULSOH RSSUHVVLRQ
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soundtrack. An alcohol bottle discarded in the desert sand circumstances as systemic disadvantage and dehumani
resonates with the threat of aggression, and words are bran sation rob her of her agency and her voice.
GLVKHG DV ZHDSRQV ZLWK .HQQHG\ UHSHDWHGO\ DGPRQLVKLQJ There is a sense of dire inevitability as these charac
3KLORPDF WR oIXFN RIIp (YHQ WKH ODQGVFDSH LWVHOI H[XGHV D WHUV PDUFK JULPO\ OLNH FORFNZRUN WRZDUGV YLROHQW FRQIURQ
PDOHYROHQW PHQDFH DV ZKHQ )OHWFKHU IROORZV 6DP RXW RQWR tation with one another. Thornton has acknowledged the
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mering visuals every bit as strange as those we see in Fata intended to ‘use the accessibility of the western genre
,NQF@M@ :HUQHU +HU]RJ WR HYRNH )OHWFKHUpV VXQ for audiences to enter the story and be drawn into this
baked state as he rides out slumped on his horse. This im ZRUOG DQG VR H[SHULHQFH WKH LVVXHV IDFHG E\ DQ RFFXSLHG

age simultaneously recalls the conclusion of 2G@MD *HRUJH people’. Indeed, the western offers a narrative template
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SGD 3Q@HK, itself the inspiration for a Beach Boys album cover. Hollywood westerns like +HSSKD !HF ,@M (Arthur Penn, 1970)
By invoking such polyvalent images, Thornton is cast and 2NKCHDQ !KTD 5DOSK 1HOVRQ ZHUH ZLGHO\ LQWHU
ing his work on a larger cinematic trajectory, engaging in preted as critiques of the American war in Vietnam, and
a kind of archetypal shorthand. This is in contrast to the ZHVWHUQ LFRQRJUDSK\ LQĻHFWV WKH KLVWRULFDO $ERULJLQDO QDU
FRQVFLRXVO\ VHOI FRQWDLQHG ZRUOG RI 2@LRNM @MC #DKHK@G. UDWLYHV LQ $XVWUDOLDQ ĺOPV 3GD "G@MS NE )HLLHD !K@BJRLHSG

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