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True History of the Kelly Gang
In 2015, Australian director Justin Kurzel cut a stylish swathe through William Shakespeare's Macbeth with a bloodthirsty and emotionally bruising adaptation starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard. The award-winning film-maker harnesses that same testosterone-soaked energy for an unremittingly grim and muscular interpretation of Peter Carey's Booker Prize-winning novel based loosely on the exploits of outlaw Ned Kelly and his gang in the late 19th century. His picture centres on the poisonous relationship of young Ned Kelly (Orlando Schwerdt) and his manipulative mother Ellen (Essie Davis), who loses her weak-willed husband Red (Ben Corbett) at the hands of scheming lawman Sergeant O'Neil (Charlie Hunnam). Ned is forced to grow up before his time as man of the house and the boy learns to fend for himself with tutelage from gun-toting, gnarly bush ranger Harry Power (Russell Crowe). As Ned comes of age (now played by George MacKay), he declares war on Constable Fitzpatrick (Nicholas Hoult) by forming a gang with his younger brother Dan (Earl Cave) and a couple of friends. True History Of The Kelly Gang pulls no punches, with explosions of graphic violence and a heady homoerotic charge between a sinewy MacKay and brooding Hoult in the film's most extraordinary sequence. Kurzel playfully subverts toxic masculine stereotypes but allows his film to rumble and roar for slightly too long. The middle act sags but regains its footing with a visually arresting last stand at Glenrowan.
