FELL

Australia, 2014, 91 minutes, Colour.
Matt Nabel, Daniel Henshaw, Jacqueline Mc Kenzie, Adele Petrovic, John Brumpton, Emily Thomson, Syd Brisbane, Daniel P.Jones.
Directed by Casimir Burgess.

Fell is an unusual Australian film, the directing feature film debut of Kasimir Burgess.

On the one hand, it is a revenge film, Matt Nable Queen playing a father out in the countryside his daughter is killed by a hit-run truck driver, played by Daniel Henshall (the sinister central character in Snow town).

The father leaves the city – of which there are some flashbacks – and stays as a recluse in the bush, getting a job as a timber man. When the driver is released from prison, the two men work together, in some kind of rapport, with the driver regretting his actions.

On the other hand, this is a film about nature, beautifully photographed, the look and sounds of the Australian bush – as well as issues about cutting down of trees and the timber industry versus the environment.

Which makes for a rather contemptuous of experience rather than any adrenaline action film – which might make it a difficult sell for commercial audiences.


1. An Australian film? Drama? Meditation? Symbols?

2. The significance of the visual style, the beauty of the forests, the harshness of the logging work, the quiet scenes with father’s daughters, the rough-and-tumble scenes of the workers? The range of pace? Musical score?

3. The nature of the shots, long takes, giving audiences time to reflect, the editing, audience response, the importance of patience?

4. The narrative, explicit, implicit, suggested, evoked, and the more direct storytelling?

5. The title, the falling of the leaves, Thomas’s explanation for his daughter, leaves falling so that the tree could live? Trees being chopped down and falling? Sin and the fall, original sin, vengeance? The crashing down of the trees? The skills for felling the trees? The final image of Thomas on the tree?

6. Thomas and his daughter, quality time with her, explanations of the leaves, the quiet joy together? The strong bond? Establishing this for the impact of her death? For seeing Luke and his daughter? Thomas’s final decision? The daughter, the hit-and-run, the logging truck, commerce chasing it, the little girl on the ground, the blood, the death? Her father’s grief?

7. Thomas and his ordinary life, in Melbourne, tie and glasses, the long sequence of his driving the car through the various suburbs with their backgrounds? Out of the town? Living as an exile? The hut in the forest?

8. Its later being established that five years had passed? The glimpses of Luke in prison? His recording the story for his daughter? Getting out, the sexual encounter? Going to his mother, trying to establish a relationship with his daughter, taking her away, living with him while he worked? The food, her grandmother’s regime, being anxious, her wanting to go home? Luke and his going to work, the loggers, shunning him? His personality, the various jobs, interactions with the men, the drinking, the fighting? The different jobs? The contrast in his personality between being raucous and being pleasant?

9. Thomas, his wife coming to see him, beating him with her fists, embracing him, the sexual encounter? His leaving, applying for the job, his rugged look, saying he was strong, axing the tree, their having to get the axe out, urging him to release whatever was in him?

10. The details of the work, the men, the teams, the expertise, the visual impact of the tall trees, their falling?

11. Thomas becoming Chris, observing, on the outer? His seeing Luke’s daughter, talking with her, offering to be her guardian angel?

12. The specific jobs, Luke and Chris and the little girl together? Talking in the night, about death, Luke and his saying that he had killed, but that it was an accident? No more explanation? Chris, the possibility of vengeance, listening to Luke? Seeing his love for his daughter? Not harming him?

13. His going to the tree, seen as dressed in his suit? Climbing the tree, standing in the middle? His not falling? His washing in the water – the symbolism of the water, cleansing, and all the possibilities for redemption?