Snowtown Film Review (well.. kind of)

Every year it seems I watch an Australian film that blows me away. Last year it was Animal Kingdom, before that was Noise and few years before that was Somersault and this year it is Snowtown. Along with these films and many other Australian films that have been released in recent years, there seems to be a strong move toward exploring the darker parts of the Australian psyche. There is always going to be films that explore the darker aspects in life, while some do it poorly and others do it so well,  it can have a very strong and lasting affect on us and profoundly give us insight into ourselves and the world we live in.

Snowtown is nothing short of astounding, and such an amazing achievement for the film makers involved and the Australian film industry as a whole. It is a very sad that Australian films of this calibre, will not now, of in the near future been taken that seriously by international audiences. International audiences want to see us as cartoon characters, chasing kangaroos and dingos. While we also like seeing ourselves this way from time to time given our ability to take the piss of ourselves and our self deprecating nature, it’s a shame the rest of the world don’t see us for the multi layered complex people we are.

But that’s their problem not ours, I’d rather fight a crocodile than watch that overtly French, Diving Butterfly And A Bell film, or whatever it was called. What they should have named it is Over Rated Wank Fest. Oh, look at us, we are French, we can make pretty pictures and all our characters are bewildered all the time because they are interested in small poetic things in life and talk about nothing interesting just chases each other around rooms all day long. Oh, and don’t forget we are still milking the fact Godard and Truffaut where French, even though they very unfashionably liked bad American films and thought the French film industry was stuffy and bourgeois.

Anyway… lost myself a bit there… enough with the fashionable wanky over rated French film industry. On to a real film. Snowtown!

Godard and Truffaut are geniuses though.

Snowtown is director and writer, Justin Kurzel's first feature film, and my word! did he rise to the occasion and the challenges he was presented with. Based on the screenplay written by Shaun Grant, Snowtown follows teenager Jamie Vlassakis through his experience and involvement with the Snowtown murders otherwise known as the “bodies in the barrels” incident that occurred throughout the 90s in Western Australian. Jamie then meets John Bunting who is considered the worst, and probably one of the only serial killers in Australian history. Jamie whom is desperate for guidance looks up to the charismatic Bunting and subsequently becomes a father figure in his life. There are a number of other key characters in the film that are just as interesting as these two but, the dynamic between these two men are really what drive the narrative and what interests me.

Snowtown’s opening sequence; a vast beautiful foreboding landscape shot with Jamie retelling a reoccurring nightmare sets the tone of the film perfectly. We are then introduced to the family and community in such a clever, subtle and interesting way we don’t even realise Justin Kurzel is inserting the perfect characterisation that will make the audience believe what they are about to experience. We see Jamie sexually exploited by his mothers boyfriend and then sexually assaulted by his brother in such a passive and normalised way it is deeply disturbing and you can’t help but be angry at what is inflicted on Jamie. Then very abruptly enters John Bunting. Over a very bustling breakfast table we start to see why the family and particularly Jamie come to see John as their knight in shining armour.

The community feels powerless to what is happening to their children in their community. John gets the trust and respect from the family and community by passionately talking about punishing the people that commit these acts against their children because no one else will help them. Through the bustling kitchen scenes throughout the film we are able to see the venerability, fragility and desperation of the community and Jamie. John’s charisma wins over everyone he comes in contact with which allows him to manipulate them with his warped code of conduct and values that make sense to the community.

Snowtown has been criticised for trying to be compassionate to the killers. I would argue that the film makers are trying to take a step back and passively exhibit the development of the characters psychology through an objective view point. This affect is very powerful because it leads to a much deeper examination and understanding of the minds of the people involved and what lead them to commit the murders.

Because the film makers have done such a good job of pulling this passive objectivity off while still making the film engaging to watch. We develop a deep understanding of the communities and Jamie’s venerability. The central element of Snowtown is just this. The film is about the dangers that lye in communities like Snowtown that feel so isolated and ignored. The future is bleak for communities like this, and if someone or something comes along they can believe in, they will cling to it in desperation no matter what the end result is. Sadly this is what also happens to Jamie. Wouldn’t you? If you lived Jamie’s life, want to cling to something you could trust and reliey on even if you thought it was bad. Or even worse, if you had no real moral compass of what is bad, because no one ever taught you? This but no means excuses the murders, but maybe it explains how something like this could unfold. This is what I think is so powerful and exciting about Snowtown.

Snowtown has been slammed by a lot of critics for its so called, excessive violence and morbid nature. It is my opinion that Snowtown is a largely misunderstood film and these critics tend rather immaturely to dwell on the horror they are seeing in its physical form rather than seeing the more concerning darker aspects that motivate and lead to this violence. As someone who finished at the bottom of the class for just about every subject at school, except Drama and Sport. I have a particular intolerance for film critics and academics who lack the intelligence to look deeper to try and understand what is really going on in films like these. I am not sure why someone would be that shocked and disgusted to see violence in a film, in which the worst serial killer Australia has ever know is a central figure. There is nothing at all in this film that has not been carefully considered and respectfully though through. So concerned and respectful were the film makers  that they hired a large portion of the cast from the local community, and had very long consultations with the Snowtown community about how they felt about making a film of this nature.

My only small complaint is that that the relationship between John and Jamie very quickly jumps from stranger to accomplice without much development done. But at the end of the day the rest of the film is so well made and constructed you won’t even notice it.

In lesser hands this film could have been a disaster, but through the respectful eyes of Justin Kurzel and Shaun Grant whom grew up in a town 15 minutes from Snowtown we end up with a film that is multi layered that tells us something about humanity, desperation and isolated communities. It speaks directly to the darkest parts of the human psyche that are unique to being Australian and we need artists with enough courage like the people that worked on Snowtown to confront us and make us think.

It’s no secret I love this film.

I give it 8.3/10


Simon Direen.