Movies; Snowtown

Twenty-minutes into Snowtown and I was checking my watch. Seeing as it had already covered most of the Australian movie clichés; gritty visuals, still shots of morose people, endless smoking, unfocussed shots of household objects I was curious to see how it would fill the remaining two hours.  There came the requisite rape, assault, murder (of both man and animal), paedophilia, homophobia, in between endless scenes where nothing happens.

I feel compelled to write something. The film has been receiving ‘rave’ reviews everywhere else. It is terrible. Not only is it boring, it’s insulting to its subject, to movie goers and Australians in general.

The movie ostensibly details the murders which occurred in Snowtown, South Australia. I include a hyperlink because the film is deliberately vague on what exactly is going on. According to its makers, the actual activities were too traumatic to be shown. This in the age of Saw and The Human Centipede.

Perhaps writer and director Justin Kurzel was being considerate of the victims’ families and the town itself. I doubt this, since the film is unrelentingly negative in its depiction of them.  Snowtown is shown to be an Arcadian wasteland populated by dole bludgers, paedophiles, criminals, the damaged and the handicapped. Any scene approaching joy or even mild relief is quickly dragged down by an ominous drone. If the United States has American Gothic, then this is Australian Depressive. Escape seems to be only via death, the infamous barrels resembling a morbid take on C.S Lewis’s magical wardrobe.

Halfway through I found myself physically turning away from the screen. This was voyeurism of the worst kind. These people have no hope. We are forced to watch as their already hopeless lives are torn further asunder by John Bunting (Daniell Henshall), an unfunny Chopper Reed.

I take exception to this. Snowtown is a film only ‘art house’ cinemas will show. In Brisbane it was showing only at Palace and Dendy. I couldn’t help but wonder, why do people watch these movies? Is it to view one of ‘our stories,’ –that perennial battle cry for the local film industry? If so, whose story was this? Was it the people of Snowtown’s, or people like them? I doubt it.

 It is not a mainstream film. Snowtown is hideous to look at. It deliberately skirts anything resembling action. Most of the dramatic moments are downplayed, cut, or buried underneath slow motion. Apparently ‘out there,’ no one expresses emotion.The scenery must do it for them, hence the interminable shots of lachrymose wires and Hills Hoists. 

Snowtown is a metropolitan nightmare of what the rest of Australia is like. It is a two hour repetition of ‘and that’s why we don’t live there!’

I’d like believe it’s more than a pretentious exercise in schadenfreude, but the film offers no relief. Literally. It ends before the killers are brought to justice, removing any hope for catharsis or resolution. We are no closer to knowing the killer’s motivation—unless I missed the subtext of those endless blurry stillframes—and are left with nothing but a post-script.

I'm familiar with the banality of evil, but to so consciously commit it to film—and furthermore to omit its being brought to justice, is repugnant. As an audience member I’m insulted. If I were a resident of Snowtown—or a victim’s  family member, I’d be furious.