Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale

            Brilliant, brutal but beautiful Australian revenge tale by director Jennifer Kent (The Babadook). Set in 1825 on the island of Tasmania, it’s about the Clare (Aisling Franciosi), an Irish convict who has finished a seven-year sentence for theft but is still held in servitude to a sadistic officer- Lt. Hawkins (Sam Claflin). She was allowed to marry and have a child, but is trotted out to sing before the troops because of her lovely voice. After a horrific night of violence, Clare sets out after the Lieutenant with a Indigenous guide- Billy (Baykali Ganambarr), hellbent on revenge.   

The violence in The Babadook was internal and this is so external. And as their journey progresses the two combative travelers pass by scenes of unimaginable horror- massacres of settlers, aboriginal bodies hanging from the trees- all part of the harrowing “Black War” at the time.

But Kent’s imagery is similarly extraordinary. Wandering through the wilderness some of the surroundings occasionally feel like prehistoric vistas. Both leads are just sensational. I remember Aisling Franciosi from the BBC series The Fall, but here she plays a woman so crazed by her need to seek vengeance she is practically oblivious to anything else. Baykali Ganambarr plays a man scarred by his own tragedy who attempts to break through to her that hers isn’t the only suffering, but she is unwavering in her mission.

I don’t know how I’ll ever look and Sam Claflin again without wanting to kill him- he plays this merciless monster with incredible conviction.

            I tried to describe this to a friend but all I could come up with was “Walkabout with extreme violence. “ But it also displays the furious talent of its director- Jennifer Kent.