A visionary dramatisation of a notorious tale from Australia’s convict past shot in the spectacular Tasmanian wilderness. “Beautifully performed, and shaded with authentically bitter Celtic wit.” — Edinburgh Film Festival
Beautifully performed, and shaded with authentically bitter Celtic wit... offsets its uncompromising account of survival in extremis with unexpected poignancy.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2009
Van Diemen’s Land 2009
The magnificent forest and riverscapes of Tasmania murmur their indifference as one of the most grimly resonant of white Australian settlement stories unfolds in this intensely impressive first film. Eight thieves, of Irish, English and Scottish birth, all city boys, escape a convict camp with scant knowledge of bush survival. One, Alexander Pearce, survives. When he claims that he stayed alive by eating the others, the authorities conclude that he's covering up for his escaped mates. Director Jonathan auf der Heide, cowriter and lead actor Oscar Redding and an ensemble of colleagues from Melbourne's fertile independent theatre scene have imagined events with scrupulous intelligence, psychological acuity and an almost anthropological attention to detail. Eschewing genre thrills, they invest the savagery of the ‘fatal shore’ with specific lived experience so raw and sad you sense an urge for national exorcism 190 years later. — BG