MYSTERY ROAD

Australia, 2013, 116 minutes, Colour.
Aaron Peterson, Hugo Weaving, Jack Thompson, Ryan Kwanten, David Field, Bruce Spence, Roy Billing, Tasma Walton, Tony Barry, Zoe Carides, Damian Walshe- Howling, Robert Mammone.
Directed by Ivan Sen.


One of the best Australian films of 2013 It works in the genre of police investigation, murders, mystery in the context of an outback Australian town.

It is the work of writer-director, Ivan Sen, who made impact with such films as Beneath Clouds and Toomelah. It is set in an outback town of north-western New South Wales and draws on Sen’s experience of this environment. He also comes from an aboriginal background, using this in his previous films, and making it quite central to Mystery Road.

Sen not only writes his screenplay and directs his film but is director of photography, editor and composer of the musical score. With Mystery Road, he has brought all these talents together most successfully.

Aaron Pedersen proves himself to be an imposing screen presence as Jay, the local man who made a mess of his marriage with his drinking, and his wife drinking, and abandoning them to go to Sydney where he trained to be a detective. He has now returned and is involved in the investigation of a dead aboriginal girl. He himself is aboriginal.

Jay is rather taciturn, has something to prove, wants to re-unite with his daughter but finds her unwilling and his wife still bitter and drinking. The local police chief relies on him but does not involve himself personally in the case. Which leaves the onus on Jay to uncover clues, to interview people, to do some surveillance. He uses his powers of observation and his wits as well as a spirit of independence to uncover what is happening in the town, prostitution for the drivers of the road trains, the girls becoming addicts as well as being suppliers of drugs.

While the plot has its ugly dimensions, the photography of the town and its surroundings, a blend of contemplative longshots as well as probing close-ups, contribute to the atmosphere. And, the story is interspersed with a number of aerial shots, looking down on the town itself, the houses, the streets and the vehicles moving along them.

Pedersen leads a strong cast, peopled with a number of Australian character actors. Hugo Weaving is an enigmatic fellow officer. An almost unrecognisable Jack Thompson is an old codger who gives information to the police. Roy Billings is the owner of a gun shop. Bruce Spence is the coroner. David Field is the local landowner with Ryan Kwanten as his son. Robert Mammone is the police partner. Tasma Walton is Mary, Jay’s wife.

This means that the film is interesting and entertaining in its genre, but also offers insight into the Australian character. And all this in the unusual beauty as well as some squalid human conditions. The film was shot in Winton, Queensland.

1. The critical acclaim for the film? Ivan Sen and his Australian themes, aboriginal themes, drawing on his own background and upbringing in country Australia? The praise for the film within its police and mystery genre?

2. The location photography, the Queensland town of Winton, the outback, the town itself, small, the surroundings and the broad paddocks, the mountains, the touches of desert? The town, streets, homes, the Chinese restaurant, the police precincts? The musical score? The work of Ivan Sen as director, editor, composer, writer?

3. The pacing, the editing, the long longshots, the close-ups on people, the aerial photography of the town and its streets? The photography and it realism? Classic style?

4. The film and the attention to dramatic and visual detail, the trucks on the road trains, the scenery, the focus on guns, the many sequences of children playing, asking questions, with the gun…?

5. The title, the visual, focus, the introduction of the road trains, the driver stopping, his tyres, the sound of the dog, searching in the night, the pipes and finding the dead girl? The setting up of the best story?

6. Jay, his arrival, a big man, his authority, with the police, interactions with the other police, his partner and his disdain? The arrival of the coroner, discussions with Jim? The police chief, the personal relationship with him, orders? Saying that he did not have enough men, putting Jay in charge?

7. Jay, his past, his marriage to Mary, their daughter, both of them drinking, his leaving, going to Sydney, training as a detective, the decision to return home, his work with the police?

8. The details of his investigation, his untrustworthy partner, the impositions of the chief, watching from the car, in his office? The phone calls and the information from Jim about the dead girl, forensic evidence? The situation of the girls, the truckies, the girls going out to meet them, the sexual background, drugs, missing girls? Jay and his daughter, her mobile phone and the indication of calls?

9. His visit to Mary, her bitterness, drinking, his daughter going out to talk with him, sitting with him, his inviting her to live with him? Mary at the pokies, her daughter missing? Going to the house, it’s being trashed? The search for the drugs? Mary’s fear?

10. The dog, the testimony, Jay going out to visit the old man who had made the report, their talk together, the information?

11. Jay and his getting the gun, the discussions with the shop owner, his going out into the fields, the bottles and hits, the accuracy of his shooting? Preparing for the later episode in the hills?

12. Bailey and his son, the visit, ownership of the land, the surly response, Jay watching, the huge shed, the lab for the drugs, the men exiting with protective clothes?

13. The picture of the town, the picture of the town’s people, their talk, Jay and is getting information, at the shops, restaurants, the man next door and his watching, nodding the truth to Jay?

14. Hugo, his work as a policeman, enigmatic, his attitudes towards Jay, their discussions?

15. The aborigines in the town, their presence, the girls, the modern situations, mobile phones, friends? Yet the background of sexual promiscuity, drugs?

16. Wayne, cheeky, his attitude towards Jay, being arrested, the interviews, the information, Hugo coming in, taking him? He is being abducted by the drug manufacturers? His being killed?

17. Hugo, not wanting Jay to hinder his case, his connections, informants, going to the restaurant, the talk? Jay and his suspicions?

18. Jay going to the house, the television set, finding the drugs? Making the contact, to return the drugs? To get his daughter back?

19. Going into the hills, Jay watching, the drivers, the killing of the young man, the wearing of the masks, the exchange of the drugs, the guns and the shooting, Hugo in the hills and is telescopic rifle, shooting and saving Jay, Jay as a target, his ability with his rifle, the death of the drug dealers? Identifying them? Removing the mask and finding his partner? Hugo and his being killed?

20. The cross-section of the town? Drugs on the 21st century, the destructive power of the drugs?

21. Jay going home, his daughter, Mary, the daughter acknowledging the truth? Possibilities for future?

22. The perspective on Australian country towns and characters, drugs and prostitution, violence, aborigines? The town in the 21st century?