THE HUNTER
Australia, 2011, 100 minutes. Colour.
Willem Dafoe, Frances O’ Connor, Sam Neill, Sullivan Stapleton, Callan Mulvey, Jacek Koman, Dan Wyllie, Morgana Davies, John Brumpton, Finn Woodlock.
Directed by Daniel Nettheim.
Screen Tasmania is not a title we see all that often in a film’s credits. But, here it is and Tasmania is definitely to the fore.
First of all, the scenery must be noted. The Tasmanian wilderness looks beautifully rugged and we are treated to a great deal of it. Secondly, the Tasmanian issue must be noted. The Tasmanian Tiger.
We have heard stories of the Tasmanian Tiger, the Tasmanian ‘Devil’, and its extinction. There have been rumours over the decades of sightings. The Hunter takes up the possibility of their not dying out. A multinational drug company is eager to find the animal to extract fluids which may have beneficial results for health but even more beneficial financial results. They hire hunters to go into the mountains to secretly track the animal. We learn that the company is quite ruthless in its ambitions.
Willem Dafoe is the hunter whose quest we share. Dafoe has been a strong screen presence for over a quarter of a century and communicates tough earnestness in this kind of role. His rugged face draws attention and his capacity for communicating an inner life are a great advantage since so much of the film concentrates on him and his roaming the mountains, searching lakes and caves, setting traps, confronting industrial spies and coming to terms with the moral issues which underlie his pursuing the tiger.
Frances O ’Connor is the wife of an environmentalist who has disappeared in the mountains. She offers hospitality to the hunter who also gets on well with her two children. Morgana Davies, who was so strong a presence in The Tree, proves she can hold her own with adult actors here. Sam Neill is a local who is commissioned to help the hunter but who has a much more ambiguous role in the community where loggers are put off work and where environmentalists celebrate nature and irk the workers.
The plot is not always as predictable as might have been first thought. The screenplay is based on a story by Julia Leigh (Sleeping Beauty), using the basic plot but developing and adding many strands to make the drama stronger.
Often lower-key than might be expected, it is an effective small film with strong characters and significant issues. Is extinction preferable to exploitation?
1. A Tasmanian story? Tasmanian atmosphere? Issues?
2. The contribution of the colour photography, the Tasmanian mountains, roads, wilderness? The musical score?
3. The themes of the environment, multinational companies, greed, government, logging and workers, industrial violence? Industrial espionage?
4. Martin’s personal story? William Dafoe’s screen presence, Martin’s background, skills, the meeting in Paris, being employed, the nature of the job, his being a loner, the instructions, meeting Jack, the surveillance, the accommodation, going to the pub, the reaction of the men? Going to the house, meeting the children, his response to them? Lucy and her illness, reviving her? The secrecy of his mission? Going into the mountains, driving, the camp, the search, taking photographs, traces of the Tasmanian tiger, setting the traps? His return, the personal effect on him? The contact with Paris, with Jack? Playing with the children, their precocious behaviour? Lucy and her recovery? The threats? The stop-work, the celebration, the menace of the working men, the confrontation with Martin? The picnic – and the call from Paris and his going back to the mountains? His being tracked, the fight, killing his pursuer? The cave, the tracks of the tiger? Finding Jarrah’s remains? The animal, the look of the tiger, Martin and his hesitation, whether to shoot or not? His return, the house burnt down, Lucy and her daughter’s death? His going to Jack, the confrontation? Going to see the boy at the school? The future as regards the company? His caring for the boy?
5. Martin as a character, audiences identifying with him, facing the issues, his moral judgments?
6. Lucy, the background of her husband, his issues, his searching the mountains? Surveillance, murder? The children, their taking the pills, her grief? Martin helping in the recovery? Her liking Martin, with the neighbours, with Jack, the celebration, the strikers and their menace? The disappointment about the picnic? The pathos of her death and the fire?
7. The children, the forthright young girl, their love for their father, playing, at school, the boy’s drawings, helping Martin identify where the tiger was? The disappointment about the picnic? The girl’s death with her mother? The boy in the playground, the bond with Martin?
8. The pub, the manager, the beers, the working types, the sense of menace, the confrontations?
9. Jack, his background, his role, the sinister touches, ambiguity, his watching from the back of the car?
10. The spy, following Martin, the fight and the trap?
11. The background of Tasmanian tigers, the visuals of their appearance, their stories, the company wanting the extracts for their medication? Hunting the animal? Eliminating it? The issue of Martin thinking it was better extinct than being exploited?
