The vast, open landscape of the Australia outback so closely resembles the Old West that it’s a wonder there aren’t more Australian westerns.
“Sweet Country,” Warwick Thortnon’s hypnotic sophomore effort, makes up for missed time.
This gorgeous, sprawling tale of early 20th century desert survival and racist villains packs the brutal punch of Sam Peckinpah, but folds the majestic vistas and gunplay into a disquieting statement on persecution with echoes of “12 Years a Slave.” Thortnon’s leisurely approach applies the Dirty Dozen formula to a historic tragedy, and the uncompromising narrative doesn’t always resolve the tension between those two ingredients, but it’s nevertheless a remarkable elevation of the Western trope to poetic heights.Set in 1929, “Sweet Country” unfolds across the desolation of Alice Springs, a sweaty, red-tinted region of the Eastern Arrente Nation, which may as well be Mars.
Aborigine in the Northern region
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