Sweet Country

Samuel Goldwyn Films | Release Date: April 6, 2018

7.1	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 39 Ratings

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KenRFeb 8, 2019

Yet another Australian movie financed largely by Government grants that ticks all the Political Correctness boxes. As predictable as night follows day. When will Australia stop throwing buckets of public funds at hate-based movie makersYet another Australian movie financed largely by Government grants that ticks all the Political Correctness boxes. As predictable as night follows day. When will Australia stop throwing buckets of public funds at hate-based movie makers wanting to create division for division’s sake? The script (what little there is) by Steven McGregor and David Tranter is supposedly set in the 1920s but, the endless prolific swearing sounds more like 2018 – seems they can’t see past their own era. Yes, it’s a sad case but their characters are one dimensional and totally predictable, as are the majority of situations posed in their loosely based plot. Editor, Nick Meyers seems to be trying to add interest by cutting in flash-forwards (and back) but this simply makes the lack of up-front, solid interest, more noticeable. If local director Warwick Thornton grew up watching spaghetti westerns – then he didn’t have a chance, because all he’s doing is transposing them into Australiana. The movie is also painfully stretched out it could be watched at 2 x speed and the viewer would miss nothing. Thornton’s photographic direction is excellent (he should stay with this as his chosen profession) or was it actually co-photographer Dylan River who guided much of this? Equally good, was the sound recordist’s professional work but, he also doubles as co-writer and leaves something to be desired – maybe stay in the field your best at. The unrelentingly nasty, foul-mouthed characters are simply too obviously set-up to be believed or taken seriously – other than by viewers who do not balance their viewing habits and watch only this type of ‘entertainment’ or are guilty partners of the ‘them and us’ hate driven crowd – those who continually drag this sorry world down to their pathetic levels. Brian Brown’s Police Sergeant‘s character is so superficial you could almost hear the production executives calling for a ‘marketable’ name to be added to the cast – same applies for Sam Neil, who plays the only ‘Christian’ to inhabit this crude land (and Sam plays this out in his obvious atheistic manner) The Aboriginal casting is good and Matt Day does considerably well playing Judge Taylor. Maybe it’s time for Australian moviemaking to grow up and move forward. Much time and money will be spent on marketing this movie overseas but might be better invested in a more positive endeavour. Not sure why American Johnny Cash, singing Thomas Dorsey’s “Peace in the Valley” was chosen for the end credits? If it was for satirical contrast - it simply didn’t quite work. Perhaps then, it was intended for the American market...?… Expand

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TyranianApr 14, 2019

Very well filmed Aussie drama with decent acting and writing though a little unimaginative.

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philipz484Jan 2, 2021

I learned nothing about the Aboriginal culture, but for the 3000th time that the colonial authorities were bad and Jesus was good. The slow pace shows the pointlessness of many scenes.

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