“The Nightingale”– Movie Review

This week, I attended a sneak preview of the new drama “The Nightingale” at Film At Lincoln Center; it was written and directed by Jennifer Kent. 

Synopsis

When a woman is dehumanized by a military officer, she seeks revenge – but can she track him down in a trek across dangerous terrain?

Story

In 1825, England deployed its military to the Australian island of Tasmania.  The intent of their occupation is colonization; in order to do so, however, they believe they must effectively commit genocide by killing The Aborigines, the island’s native inhabitants.  The English demonize the Aborigines and in so doing, are reciprocally demonized by the indigenous people themselves. This period in history came to be known as “The Black War”. Accompanying the military are Irish convicts; they are basically indentured servants waiting for their sentence to be completed so they can be freed.

One such convict is Clare (Aisling Franciosi), who works as a barmaid and singer to entertain the troops; she lives there with her husband and their infant.  Clare suffers under mistreatment by the soldiers – not only by the enlisted men, but especially by their leader, Lieutenant Hawkins (Sam Claflin), a man who is both sadistic and ambitious in equal measure.  After finding herself the victim of multiple horrifying crimes at the hands of Hawkins and his men, Clare has had enough. When she tries unsuccessfully to seek justice, Clare becomes determined to mete out her own form of justice. 

Hawkins starts off on a journey to the northern part of the island where he will meet with his superiors in order to entreaty them for the promotion he feels he has earned and deserves.  After Clare learns of this, she decides to chase after him. But in a foreign land that for the most part hasn’t been settled, she cannot traverse the hazardous jungles and forests alone.  As a result, she winds up hiring Billy (Baykali Ganambarr) a young Aborigine who reluctantly serves as her guide. Despite Billy being an expert, the two encounter numerous challenges along the way.  Will they both survive the voyage in order for Clare to exact her revenge on Hawkins?

Review

Screenwriter/director Jennifer Kent’s previous effort (her debut as a feature director) was “The Babadook” from five years ago.  It was an extremely well-received horror film. Although “The Nightingale” is an historical drama, it is equally if not more horrifying than “The Babadook”, largely because it is in fact based in part on an ugly part of world history, and English history in particular.  You certainly come away from this movie viewing the English a bit differently and having tremendous sympathy for the indigenous Aboriginal people of Tasmania. This motion picture serves as an excellent reminder that both racism and vengeance have survived over the centuries.

Kent’s outstanding screenplay draws its characters perfectly:  each is unique and their individual motivations for either doing or not doing something are crystal clear.  Heroes and villains are painfully obvious. The protagonists have a perceptible arc, but not so much the antagonists.  Many movies can have a second act that drags but “The Nightingale” is able to add so many twists in its second act that you still feel a sense of a forward momentum in the story; where it becomes a bit of a slog is in its third act (more on that below).  While we may come away feeling educated and with greater insight, it can seem like more of an endurance contest the further along we get; it is difficult to imagine watching something more chilling or more devastating..   

If there is a criticism of “The Nightingale”, it would be its length; at two and a quarter hours, it feels much longer because of the relentless cruelty seen throughout and from different sources.  The audience is basically visually assaulted with scenes of brutality so extreme and so frequent that one almost wants to give up on the movie. While the film has somewhat of a satisfying ending, it could’ve come sooner.  It’s almost as though Kent wants to torture her audience as a punishment for watching the motion picture. Once it is finally over, it’s understandable that a feeling of great relief overcomes you.