Uncompromising and distressing, Snowtown delves into the grizzly events of Australia’s worst serial murders, while exploring the slippery slope of vigilante justice within a community left to the wolves.
The “Bodies in the Barrels” murders gave Australia its worst serial killer in John Bunting. Eleven victims died at the hands of Bunting and his varied accomplices, with eight stored in barrels of acid located in an empty building in the sleepy town of Snowtown, South Australia.
Yet while misinformation has led many to believe Snowtown as the place of Bunting’s evil deeds, it is in fact the lower class town of Salisbury North where the majority of these grizzly events took place.
That is the where Snowtown the movie opens, with focus on poverty stricken single mother Elizabeth Harvey (Louise Harris) and her four sons, all of whom are subjected to sexual molestation at the hands of close friends and members of the family.
When the authorities refuse to take action, she turns to community vigilante John Bunting (Daniel Henshall). Charismatic and affectionate, he lends a hand and soon becomes a part of the family, taking a shining to shy teen Jamie (Lucas Pittaway) who finds a father figure in Bunting.
Little does Jamie know is that he will soon become an accomplice in murder, with Bunting playing judge, jury and executioner upon those he has deemed unworthy to live. First to go are suspected paedophiles. Then homosexuals. Next drug addicts and the mentally disabled.
As directed by first time feature filmmaker Justin Kurzel, the violence on hand is horrific and at times unbearable, with gritty depictions of sexual and murderous brutality featured during sporadic moments.
What Kurzel has not done is depict the violence in an exploitative or entertaining fashion. Snowtown is not torture porn, although torture does occur. However it is very bleak filmmaking, uncomfortable and cold with a pounding score by Jed Kurzel (of The Mess Hall) and stark photography from Adam Arkapaw.
Kurzel is careful to make the point that this film is about a community left to fend for themselves, unknowingly letting the Devil into their confides while scrambling to deal with the abundant sexual crimes which the authorities seemingly cannot, or will not deal with. In several scenes, town hall style meetings feature members of the community describe their revenge fantasies, with Bunting gleefully sucking in the inspiration to fuel the self imposed justification of his crimes.
Daniel Henshaw is simply magnetic in his big screen debut, convincingly portraying the duel personalities of this sociopathic killer. Equally brilliant is Adelaide native Lucas Pittaway, who takes on the responsibility of guiding the audience through this world while doing much emotional heavy lifting in his first foray into acting.
Like the majority of his cast, Kurzel came from the very same neighbourhoods as these characters, which would have no doubt spurned his decision to make this a gritty and graphic insight into these events. For that reason Snowtown is a well-made and portrayed film, yet not recommended for the squeamish. |