VAN DIEMEN'S LAND
October 30th 2009 05:26
IN 1822, eight desperate convicts escaped from the harshest penal colony in the world on the remote west coast of Tasmania. Based on the shocking confessions of an Irish thief named Alexander Pearce, Van Diemen’s Land details the men’s arduous journey, and explores the darker side of human nature.
Stark cinematography and a haunting score give the film an ominous feel right away, and it never lets up. It’s an impressive directorial debut from Jonathan auf der Heide, and the acting from the ensemble cast is terrific. Oscar Redding (who co-wrote the script with auf der Heide) delivers an impressive, slow-burning performance as Pearce and Arthur Angel is frightening as the cold and calculating Robert Greenhill.
Van Diemen’s Land probably won’t do much for Tasmanian tourism – unless dark, forbidding forests are your kinda thing – but it’s a fascinating story from Australia's blood-stained past that raises interesting moral questions about how far people will go in order to survive.
Stark cinematography and a haunting score give the film an ominous feel right away, and it never lets up. It’s an impressive directorial debut from Jonathan auf der Heide, and the acting from the ensemble cast is terrific. Oscar Redding (who co-wrote the script with auf der Heide) delivers an impressive, slow-burning performance as Pearce and Arthur Angel is frightening as the cold and calculating Robert Greenhill.
Van Diemen’s Land probably won’t do much for Tasmanian tourism – unless dark, forbidding forests are your kinda thing – but it’s a fascinating story from Australia's blood-stained past that raises interesting moral questions about how far people will go in order to survive.
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