Director: Daniel Nettheim
Starring: Willem Defoe, Frances O’Connor, Sam Neill, Morgana Davis, Finn Woodlock
Running Time: 102 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Extras: The Making of The Hunter, Interview with Willem Defoe, Trailer
THE HUNTER is based on the acclaimed novel by Julia Leigh with the screenplay by Alice Addison. On directorial duties is Daniel Nettheim, a man who has mainly worked in television but has spent 10 years developing the project. This feature debut is a very definite and conscious piece of filmmaking, which focuses initially on a distant and dwindling forestry community but it’s also entwined with a deeper understanding of survival, and in many different ways.
THE HUNTER tells the story of Martin David, played by the ever-captivating Willem Dafoe, a mercenary sent by a German biotech company named Redleaf to travel alone to the Tasmanian wilderness and hunt down the very last Tasmanian Tiger. The beast has almost evolved into a myth, as it’s on the verge of extinction and is never seen but its body holds a lethal toxin and Redleaf want it for an unknown, yet evidently unethical, reason.
When Martin arrives in the deep forest of Tasmania, his lodging at a local family’s house is of a poor standard, the hot water is a sludge of dirty water and the electricity generator has stopped. It emerges that their environmentalist father had mysteriously disappeared a year or so before, his wife Lucy (Frances O’Connor) is bed-ridden and drug addled in her grief and her two children Sass (Morgana Davis) and Bike (newcomer Finn Woodlock), look after themselves while their mother sleeps in a state of comatose. Their only solace is local man Jack, played by the brilliant Sam Neill, who seems to keep a watch over them without intruding too excessively. If this were in a city, the context might feel grey and hollow but out in the rural countryside, their home comes across as if it was once a warm and welcoming but has fallen apart due to unanticipated and sorrowful circumstance.
Willem Dafoe excels in his role as Martin, his unique talents are perfect for the outsider on a mission but you know that underneath that stony exterior, is a soul full of compassion. Frances O’Connor (A.I., MANSFIELD PARK) is the warmth of the home as the narrative progresses and also special mentions have to go to the youngest actors in the cast, Morgana Davis and Finn Woodlock. Davis gives a great performance as vocally curious young Sass and although Woodlock says nothing as Finn, he portrays such emotion in mannerism and moments.
It’s indisputably earthy and those seeking a quick paced thriller, that the trailer denotes, will find themselves in a very different kind of world. It’s slow paced, yet the tension builds and becomes a really stimulating mix of compelling and inquisitive. I’d go as far to say there’s a slight documentary feel to proceedings but more fly-on-the-wall…if we were in the middle of nowhere and only our own survival would keep us alive.THE HUNTER is poetically haunting and an atmospheric portrayal of man’s instinct to hunt, yet rooting itself to the natural disposition of humanity to nurture and protect.
THE HUNTER is out on DVD and Blu-ray now. It can be ordered via Artificial Eye.
