THE FURNACE
Australia, 2020, 116 minutes, Colour.
Ahmad Malek, David Wenham, Baykali Ganambarr, Jay Ryan, Samson Coulter, Erik Thomson, Mansoor Noor, Trevor Jamieson.
Directed by Roderick Mac Kay.
As we watch The Furnace, many of us in the audience will realise that we are in a world, in a story of Australian history, with which we are not particularly familiar. Which means that the film makes a considerable contribution to the widening of our horizons and our awareness of Australian history.
The time is 1897. The place is Western Australia – and beyond Kalgoorlie. There are gold mines, especially at Mount Magnet. There are avid miners. There is the local constabulary, ready on horseback, to maintain order and to right wrongs. Mines are robbed. Thieves travel across the desert to a remote homestead, home to Chinese who have a special furnace to melt the gold and reshape it without the Royal seal.
There are wandering aborigines, stories told about massacres, about pursuits, about tribes to disappearing into the vast land.
But, it is also the world of the cameleers, men who have come from Afghanistan, India, Muslims, Sikhs, who transport the loads through the desert with that strangest of imports, the camel. In fact, the central character of this story is a young Afghan, Hanif (played by an Egyptian actor, Ahmad Malek), far away from home, conscious of his father’s expectations of him, working with fellow cameleers, but but in many ways, lonely, thinking about his returning home. He does have regular work. He does have a working companion. And he has good friend, Woorak (Baykali Ganambarr who made such an impression in The Nightingale), a young aboriginal – who bonds with him even more strongly when they are confronted by two white men wanting water, who threaten them, fire, and the shooter is killed by a spear.
That is the setting. However, the main part of the story is a journey, Hanif encountering a white man, Mal, who is part of the gang who have stolen gold from Mount Magnet. Mal is played by David Wenham, always a striking screen presence, very much so here, sometimes laid-back and cautious, other times ambitious to get the gold to the Chinese furnace, sometimes haunted by death, who appears in his imaginings. His companions on the robbery have all been killed. Hanif agrees to go with him and their journey is quite a trek. A wary friendship grows up between the two, Mal having been wounded and needing care, Hanif mystified but wondering if the gold will help him return home.
And, in the meantime, the constabulary is out, and demanding Sgt in charge (Jay Ryan), his son one of the troopers. Eventually they track down the thieves and arrive at the Chinese house and furnace.
The action does not go as might have been expected, making demands on Mal, making demands on Hanif, who wonders where his future will lie, here in Australia, in the towns, with the other cameleers, or, perhaps, returning to Woorak and the aboriginal tribe.
This is a first-time feature written and directed by Roderick Mac Kay. The settings and scenery are particularly distinctive, often beautiful, often treacherous. There are reminders of stories from the American West. However, the film is distinctively Australian, in characters, language, issues.
1. A significant film about Australian history? Little-known history? The 19th century, trade and transport, Afghans and Indians, camels, goldminers, aboriginal tribes, interactions?
2. The locations, Western Australia, the desert in the bush, remote areas, oases, the towns and shops, the Chinese and the furnace? The musical score?
3. The introduction to Hanif, his Afghan background, expectations from his father, coming to Australia, working with the camels, with his companion? The trade routes? The friendship with the aborigines, with Woorak? Sharing their lives? The chief and his friendship? The boys and the rituals, coming-of-age?
4. The two white men, the water, the aggression, killing Hanif’s companion, the threat, Woorak spearing him?
5. The background of Mount Magnet, the goldminers, the range of people there? The troopers, Sgt Shaw and his personality, determined, pride in his son, yet severe treatment, the corporal and the other members of the squad? The role in Western Australian society and the outback?
6. The robbery of the gold from Mount Magnet? The police in pursuit? Hanif and his bewilderment in the desert, the encounter with Mal, the dead men, the gold? Mal and his physical condition? His personality, suspicious, blaming the Chinese?
7. Mal and Hanif and their trek through the desert, physical dependence, Hanif and his moral dilemmas, the gold, the possibility for going home? The encounter with the other cameleers, Mal and his gun suspicious, the challenges to Hanif? Mal and Hanif going on their own? The continued journey, going to the furnace?
8. The dangerous travel, Mal and his condition, down the ravine, finding the house, the Chinese and the furnace, the matriarch, the boss, the younger members? The melting of the gold, deleting the royal emblem, making the gold available? The issues of sharing the gold?
9. Suspicions, the shootout, Mal and his being wounded, the deaths of the Chinese? The troopers, the attack, Troopers Sam and his following the lead, his death? The corporal letting Hanif go?
10. Mal, shot, the gold, burial, Hanif and the gold? The death figure and the previous presence, searching for water? The confrontation with Mal? Death? Hanif burying him?
11. Sgt Shaw, grief for the death of his son, violent, the corporal restraining him? Going back to the town?
12. Hanif, his age, the experience, the encounters with the Afghans and the Sikhs, his work with the camels, the gold, the possibility of return home? Not? Going back to the aborigines, the spears, meeting Woorak, the welcome?
