Sometimes deadlines get the best of us, and if we had a second crack at The Best Films Of 2018…We’ve Already Seen, “Sweet Country” would’ve certainly made the cut. The new film from Warwick Thornton picked up a slew of awards at film festivals throughout the past year, and we highly recommend this western, which crackles with racial tension.
Starring Sam Niell, Bryan Brown, Hamilton Morris, and Ewen Leslie, the film heads to Australia’s Northern Territory, where an Aboriginal man goes on the run after killing a white man. However, as the details behind the murder emerge, a whole new story comes to light. Here’s the official synopsis:
Sam, a middle-aged Aboriginal man, works for a preacher in the outback of Australia’s Northern Territory. When Harry, a bitter war veteran, moves into a neighbouring outpost, the preacher sends Sam and his family to help Harry renovate his cattle yards. But Sam’s relationship with the cruel and ill-tempered Harry quickly deteriorates, culminating in a violent shootout in which Sam kills Harry in self-defence.
As a result, Sam becomes a wanted criminal for the murder of a white man, and is forced to flee with his wife across the deadly outback, through glorious but harsh desert country. A hunting party led by the local lawman Sergeant Fletcher is formed to track Sam down. But as the true details of the killing start to surface, the community begins to question whether justice is really being served.
A film Jessica Kiang called “a symphony of almost palpable texture and observational detail,” “Sweet Country” screens at the Sundance Film Festival and opens in cinemas this spring.