A savvy bit of Sundance programming to show this on Australia Day... which made it that much more brutal to watch. The plot is simple, a revenge story set in 1800s Tasmania - but the history that surrounds it is anything but. At school in Australia, I was taught about the “settlement” of our country by the British and the “civilization” of the native people. It was only later that I learnt how many Aboriginies were murdered in the process. Jennifer Kent didn’t hold back, showing this dark side of our history in full force. Which means, it’s not much fun to watch! Definitely not for the faint hearted, as there’s no light to be found. But there’s also no doubt that she is a filmmaker with an unflinching voice.

“What’s wrong, soldier boy? Did your mommy not love you?”

The most brutal and intense movie i’ve ever seen in my life. 

People walked out, someone fainted. Completely unflinching and horrifying from start to finish, and many scenes made me so uncomfortable i didn’t want to watch anymore.  Jennifer Kent is the only person who could have made this film, and her exploration of female trauma and colonialism’s impact on the aboriginal peoples of Australia & Tasmania was incredible. I’m gonna go throw up now.

I'm fully on board for the revenge film set in a time and place where its protagonists lives have literally no value to the shitty people in power, but I struggled with the bland moral handwringing over the violence here as well as the almost cartoonishly ostentatious bleakness, elements which basically cancelled each other out for me, making this mostly just a very long sit.

I definitely don’t recommend
watching this movie twice in
two days, or maybe even once
in one lifetime? No rating, still,
after my second viewing, and
probably indefinitely. I can’t
imagine I’ll subject myself to
this specific series of sounds
& images/horrors & atrocities —
uh, likely ever again. It was a
unique theatrical experience
to have with a childhood friend
though, that’s for damn sure...

A movie I loved that I will never watch again

too much rape!

Went in with low expectations but MAN was this a film worth watching. Despite my love for horror, I had a cold reception to ‘The Babadook’ so I wasn’t expecting the same director to “wow” me without the promise of thrills and chills. I walked out of this picture amazed at not just the stellar writing and directing but the fact that legit Aboriginal language was spoken in it. Also, being half-Irish did aid in my interest in the lead character, a Irish born woman sent to Australia as part of the convict colonies filling the country at the time. She and an Aboriginal native begin a trek to get revenge on a wicked military man who’s gone off to seek a rise in rank. This can be at times a rather stark and bleak tale but it’s still one I recommend.

Never felt such hate for an antagonist before, Jennifer Kent really captures that. This is a highly emotionally charged and frankly graphic film that deals with a very heavy topic in rape, but handles it very well in my opinion. Admittedly it is not for everyone. People with personal experiences similar to the main character may not handle the film well, I can see how many parts would be triggering to sexual assault and rape survivors. If you can bear to watch it, the quality of storytelling is amongst the best I've seen in the last few years.

One of the most brutal, haunting, and unforgettable films to come out of Australia. Jennifer Kent has crafted a bold and devastating portrait of our violent past, one that doesn't delve into sensationalism or shy away from the atrocities committed against Indigenous Australians, women, and the Irish in 19th century Australia. Franciosi and Ganambarr delivered two of the most heartbreaking and powerful performances I've seen in a long time. A tremendous work that should be viewed by all Australians as a reminder of our blood-soaked past and the atrocities that were committed.

I walked out of the cinema utterly speechless.

This film should be shown in every Australian school.

The violence of colonisation splayed across a screen, sparing no details, glossing over no brutality, sanitising no realities.

The tense hierarchy of colonised peoples who slowly come to terms with each other's oppression.

Bittersweet revenge.

Absolutely incredible.

Re-reviewing because the more I think about this movie, the less I like it.

It's miserable, depressing, exploitive and too long. I get that it's a colonization-era revenge movie. I get that we're supposed to be angry about what happens to these characters. I get that this about a dark era in Australian history in which countless atrocities occurred - but there's such a thing as taking it too far.

Between the (numerous) rape scenes and the excessive violence shown towards indigenous people, the whole thing is just an exhausting experience with barely any sense of restraint. Even the trashiest exploitation movies usually have moments that are fun, entertaining, or at least satisfying or cathartic. This movie has none of that.

Still, it's well acted and well directed, so I'll give it that.