Jennifer Kent’s follow up to “The Babadook” is a bigger scale film set in 19th century Tasmania, as an Irish convict, freed but still working for the officers who run the settlement, falls afoul of one of them, subsequently seeing her husband and baby killed and herself brutally raped. Seeking justice or some kind of vengeance, she chases them down as they make the trek from Hobart to Launceston, with the assistance of an Aboriginal tracker, but how far is she really willing to go?
This is, undoubtedly, a brutal film, with some grueling images (particularly in the first phase, but it never quite lets up – some mid-film incidences, in particular, are quite disturbing). But it derives its strength through the various sufferings of an Irish convict woman and the Aboriginal tracker who has his own losses, and Aisling Franciosi and Baykali Ganambarr embody these characters in great depth. Sam Clafin as the main offending officer is painted in somewhat broader strokes, but there’s a desperate self-justification in his actions that mean he’s not an uncomplicated villain – he’s a product of the environment that made him. It’s a rough experience, and no, it is not nearly as streamlined as “The Babadook” was – but it’s worth the watch if you are prepared to take the brutality.
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