The Nightingale (2018)

Jennifer Kent contributed one of the best modern horror films with The Babadook in 2014.  Nominally a movie about a monster terrorizing a single mother and her child, the movie slyly wove in a plot about child abuse and growing up with someone who is mentally ill.  It is quite unique and still is despite a number of directors attempting to copy the pacing and style. 

Instead of returning to do more horror pictures Kent decided to make a movie about the colonization of Australia, particularly the island of Tasmania.  That island saw most of its indigenous population wiped out, with the language and culture being driven to near extinction by English settlers that saw them as less than human.  The story told is through the eyes of a young Irish woman, with the Irish being barely above the aborigines in the eyes of the British Empire.  

Clare (Aisling Franciosi) is an Irish convict transported to Van Dieman's Land in the early 19th century.  She is married to a man named Aidan (Michael Sheasby) and they have a daughter named Brigid (Addison Christie, Maya Christie).  Clare, in exchange for not having to serve her time in a prison, is indentured to Lieutenant Hawkins (Sam Claflin), who is enamored by her.  While he protects her and gives her gifts he also believes that he has the right to have his way with her whenever he pleases and, though she has served out her time, he refuses to sign the papers to free her.  When her husband confronts him the Lieutenant murders him after forcing him to watch he and his Sergeant (Damon Herriman) rape her and ordering his ensign Jago (Harry Greenwood) to kill the baby and then kill Clare.

As the Lieutenant travels north to speak with a commanding officer about a promotion Clare awakens, hires an aboriginal guide named Billy (Baykali Ganambarr) and pursues the Lieutenant on their trek through the Tasmanian wilderness in order to seek revenge.  Along the way the soldiers continue their abuse of the local population and others, while Clare and Billy try to make their way past settlers that are hostile to them in every way.  Billy and Clare also develop a friendship, realizing that their lot among the English is not too dissimilar. 

The Babadook was an exercise in subtlety.  It is high on scares and atmosphere but did not go out of its way to be violent.  Those expecting the same from The Nightingale are in for a major surprise.  Kent made the conscious decision to depict the violence, both physical and sexual, realistically.  This makes the early part of the movie a bit difficult even if it does not go to the lengths and detail of I Spit on Your Grave.  The camera does not pull away during the Lieutenant's assaults on Clare, nor on those of an indigenous woman who is captured while the Lieutenant and his retinue is traveling.  It also does not shy from showing the fate of Clare's family nor the lengths to which she takes her revenge.  This is one of the few movies that doesn't show someone dying instantly from a superficial knife wound, instead showing how difficult it can be to kill a person and how determined someone needs to be.

The reason for this is not for titillation or entertainment purposes.  Kent wanted the audience to realize that this was a reality for the natives of Tasmania, and Australia as a whole, as well as for many of the people that the English considered less than them.  By not turning away she means to make the audience face what their ancestors had done during the colonization of her country. 

Aisling Franciosi and Baykali Ganambarr are key to this as well.  Without them being able to convey the sense of loss of home and family the violence shown would have little to no meaning.  Sam Claflin plays the Lieutenant in an amoral way that shows why even his superiors past him up for promotion many times, even if the part may seem a bit overwritten when it comes to the portrayal of how far he had fallen.  It gives some extra motivation to the characters and someone for the audience to root against, but his position of power and station make him pretty much untouchable by someone like Clare.  Franciosi also spoke with people and learned quite a bit about PTSD for her role, so although Clare's actions face some criticism from keyboard warriors who have never had to face any real tragedy, her choices make sense for a character of her time and place. 

The cinematography is beautiful and a lot of work went in to making this not a polite period drama but something that reflected the time, including introducing characters that, despite prominent attitudes, have a less hostile view toward their fellow humans.  Things do come to a somewhat predictable end, but the truth of the matter is they don't change anything in the long run.  Still, Kent is one of the few modern filmmakers I have seen that know when to end a movie, and though things may not be wrapped up in a pretty bow and to everyone's satisfaction, it ends when the story is told.  More writers and directors could learn from that. 

The Nightingale (2018)

Time: 136 minutes

Starring: Aisling Franciosi, Baykali Gaynambarr, Sam Claflin

Director: Jennifer Kent