“Alice? Have you seen my gun?”Red Hill is a 2010 Australian thriller. It’s 78% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, where 56% of viewers report liking it.
Why Bother?
"We'd be having a different conversation if you were dead.“
Want to know what Ryan Kwanten did before he was Jason Stackhouse on True Blood?
You could do worse than watch this movie.
Want to know what happened to Steve Bisley after he played Jim Goose in Mad Max?
Actually, he did a lot. This is just something he did recently.
If you want to see the impact of American Westerns on international filmmaking, this is a very good example.
Still, it’s not a great film. If you want to know why, and you don’t mind a spoiler or two, read on after the break.
I watched it
“We got a convicted murderer out there killing every man
in this town and you're suggesting we don't call it in? “
Shane Cooper (Ryan Kwanten) is an Australian constable with two problems. The first is that his wife, Alice (Claire van der Boom), is pregnant. She miscarried six months into her previous pregnancy, and the doctor’s recommended that she and Shane move to a quieter place where she could stay calm and keep her blood pressure down.
His other problem is that he was shot on duty. He came across a kid who was armed and strung out. Shane couldn’t shoot the boy. He thought the junkie needed help, not a bullet.
So they’ve moved out to Red Hill, a village in the Australian countryside. The movie opens as Shane reports for his first day of police work at his new station.
While he’s out investigating a wild animal attack on a herd of horses, and hearing a story about a pregnant cougar escaping from a traveling circus, the rest of the town learns that Jimmy Conway has escaped from prison. Fifteen years ago, Jimmy killed his wife, burned his house down, and generally went crazy until Old Bill (Steve Bisley) and his “boys” arrested Jimmy.
Convinced that Jimmy is coming to Red Hill for revenge, Old Bill calls in every available man, arms them, and sets a deathtrap.
The stage is set for a bloody showdown, but on whose terms?
The Verdict
Red Hill does a lot of things right.
The direction and cinematography are top-notch. The way John Ford saw the American West clearly influences how these folks see the Australian countryside, and I mean that as a compliment. It’s a beautiful film, astonishingly so considering that it’s writer/director Patrick Hughes’ first full-length film.
Ryan Kwanten is clearly an up-and-comer. He does a very sympathetic job as a young husband and father-to-be facing one of the worst first days on a job ever.
The supporting cast are terrific. We clearly grasp who they are and their relationships to each other very early in the movie, and that makes the rest of the film matter.
If only that were all it takes.
Jimmy Conway (played by Tommy Lewis) is the kind of magical aborigine that throws a harsh light on racism in Australia. Not that the US should get off scott-free. We’ve had magical aborigines back at least as far as Nathaniel Hawthorne.
I think it’s pretty clear that director Patrick Hughes is uncomfortable with Jimmy as a character. On the one hand, his disfigured face and keen senses make him almost supernatural. Heck, the man even gets hit by a car and shrugs it off. However, the film never goes far enough to turn Jimmy into a Freddy, Jason, or Michael Myers.
The film needs that.
The “twist” (and here comes the spoiler) that Jimmy is innocent is telegraphed early on. I saw it coming from the moment the town hears about his escape. There are multiple other clues, too.
He’s not a supernatural force of revenge, he’s just a very good tracker bent on avenging himself and his wife. On the other hand, we never see him suffer like every other human would, given the injuries he suffers in the course of the film. I’ve seen enough Australian cinema to spot the Neanderthal stoicism and toughness as a signifier for aboriginal Australians. Maybe it’s accepted Down Under, but here it plays as racist because it keeps him from being fully human.
Because the “twist” is so obvious, and because Jimmy isn’t portrayed as either human or monster, the ending has less impact than it should.
I hate telling you to Just Look Away from this one, so let me add that you should look for more Ryan Kwanten and more Patrick Hughes. I think they’ve got big futures ahead of them.
