"Ah Australia. What fresh hell is this?"
After a gang commits a horrific crime in 1880s Australia ,
local Police Captain (Ray Winstone) offers to spare the lives of two Burns’
brothers if one of them, Charlie (Guy Pearce) kills their older brother Arthur
(Danny Huston) who was responsible for the crime. As the youngest brother
(Richard Wilson) rots in jail with his execution looming, Charlie has just nine
days to track down Arthur and bring his body to the Captain.
The film’s opening titles show original photos mixed with
stills from the set which are made to look aged. This is a nice little touch
which helps to create the period setting. The look and feel of late Victorian
Australia is captured wonderfully with a mixture of fantastic sets, costumes
and locations. There is a fabulous juxtaposition between the Captain’s little
bubble and the rest of the film’s locations. He often remarks that “I will tame
this land” and his house, garden and wife look as though they have been neatly
dropped from a London
suburb. Outside of this however the land is sweaty, dusty and grim. People are
unwashed and clothes are stained brown and torn.