The new boy (Aswan Reid, electrical) is delivered to the Christian mission at evening, tied in a hessian sack like a wild animal. And that’s how the white world of Nineteen Forties Australia views Indigenous Australian children like him – as feral, unpredictable creatures in want of civilisation.
By the lens of her fervent religion, Sister Eileen (Cate Blanchett) can see that there’s something particular in regards to the youngster – he picks up snakes the way in which different kids acquire pebbles; he can soothe a fever with simply his palms. And he can create a floating spark of sunshine – a plaything and luxury for him within the lengthy, unusual nights within the mission dormitory. However the boy’s otherness is alarming to her, one thing that must be contained and reshaped.
The newest movie from Warwick Thornton (Samson and Delilah) is strikingly stunning, its widescreen vistas rendered in a scorched palette of mud and ochres. However the pacing is languid to a fault and all of it will get reasonably slowed down in allegory.
