NZIFF: Snowtown

Snowtown

No one explores the dark violent heart of a convict inspired nation like Australian film does. The brutal violence and grim reality of this based on a true story serial killings in Snowtown on the dishevelled fringes of Adelaide in the 1990s is one of the stand out films of this years festival.

Take bath torture, fraternal rape, sexual molestation, child porn, forced telephone confessions, homophobic rage and add a Community Watch on meth vengeance mentality into the mix and watch the veneer of civility melt away as an alpha male psycho becomes the leader of a deeply damaged family of social misfits forced to live alongside paedophiles in the rotting core of Australia's working class wasteland.

Incredible performances by Daniel Henshall and Lucas Pittaway (who bears a striking resemblance to a young Heath Ledger). This is a raw film that punches in the gut and provides insight to the hopelessness that feeds the dark angels of our nature.

Imagine Apocalypse Now based in the Australian suburbs, this is the terrible beauty of Snowtown.
5 stars

FACEBOOK
TWITTER