When the grey ship calls, I am leaving today
I’ve just been reminded that I have this thing, and realised how long its been between posts, what can I say, I got caught up in the journey I was hinting at.
So now almost six months later and what more can I tell you? That content feeling has come and gone, but for the last few months its been more settled, my hours have been filled with cuba libres, good conversation and a distinct lack of a computer, and I’ve been loving it. I’ve seen some of my relationships for what they were – destructive, gone out of my way to avoid drama, and met some amazing new people that have made a world of difference, not to mention made me see things very differently. I digress though, this isn’t what this blog post is going to be about.
Colleen posted on my wall a week or so ago about a new Australian movie called “The Hunter” . Now I’m not sure why, but Colleen is way more likely to take a chance on an Australian film than I am, I think being forced to study The Castle in high school by an American teacher because in her belief it was the “truest representation of Australian Culture ever committed to film” kind of broke me.
Every so often though, an Aussie film blows me away. Last year I was creeped out and fell in love with “The Loved Ones” It really was Pretty in Pink meets Wolf creek, but it still didn’t *quite* hit the mark, in the way that so many Australian films do. Its like they know what they want to say, but somewhere between the second and third act they lose their way.
I didn’t know much about The Hunter before I watched it, other than Tasmania needs to rethink their marketing. In a nutshell, its about a guy who is hired to find and hunt the Tasmanian Tiger for a big corporation. Now I am one of those people who would like to believe, that somewhere in the wilderness that is Tasmania that there is a population of these animals, and that our mismanagement of our wildlife didn’t see us wipe this very unique species off the face of the earth, I mean, there’s enough wilderness in Tasmania that is old growth forest and impossible to get to that there is a sliver of hope for the species.
They captured everything perfectly though, the attitude of Loggers towards Greenies (or people they perceive to be greenies), the town which survives on logging and the possible threat of people studying the local wildlife, the opposing views of greenies, the beautiful and often deadly scenery of Tasmania, and the type of turmoil one would expect when going hunting for an animal that’s believed to be extinct. The movie was beautifully shot, and the soundtrack captured everything perfectly, it never interfered with the film only added to the overall feeling. Not to mention the little boy who never audibly spoke a word but whose face gave away so much.
Its interesting, if this was another cryptozoological film about hunting Bigfoot or a chupacabra, then it would be received completely differently but the possibility that there are still Tasmanian tigers out there is plausible enough that this felt realistic.
If you get a chance, hunt this film down, I honestly don’t think there will be another Australian movie this year that will top it. For me at least, it didn’t put a foot wrong at any point. In fact I have an overwhelming urge to watch it again already.
Colleen said,
February 18, 2012 at 4:51 am
Every Australian I have talk to about this film loved it. I couldn’t get past the ‘spectacular’ premise of a ‘secret’ agency willing to kill for a bit of DNA.
How could I ever actually explain Tasmania to someone who has only seen this film?
But then I suppose the plot was no more far out than Lantana.
Maybe I just couldn’t mentally handle the murder count in the film- when an aspect I cherish about Tasmania is the low murder rate.
riffraffsaff said,
February 18, 2012 at 10:20 pm
I think the idea of the secret agency willing to kill for DNA didn’t stand out to me because I’m so over aware of the insane lengths multinationals go to for something like a Rhino horn, and the rangers defending those reserves knowing its kill or be killed in terms of stopping poaching. Obviously this isn’t a scenario we liken to anywhere in Australia (thank god).
i think people are more likely to fall in love with Tassie from watching this because of the scenery and the idea that its so untouched that the tigers could still be there. that said the murder was brutal (horrible as it is but I feel it was worse because it was the corporation killing for their researchers wanting to protect the tiger).
On another conservation note. Have you heard/read that they think the eastern barred bandicoots in Tas are showing signs of evolving into a different sub species because theyre so isolated. I had one curl up on my lap at camp last night.