Starring: Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris, Matthew Sunderland, Ewen Leslie, Jada Alberts, Steve Mouzakis, Fletcher Humphreys, Alan Dukes, Gary Waddell
Distributor: Netflix
Runtime: 117 mins. Reviewed in Oct 2022
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc
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Based on an actual Queensland case of abduction, this is about a sting created by undercover officers to trap the abductor.
Recommendation: SEE THIS disturbing film, before reading any descriptions and reviews.
However, continuing for those who wish to read a review . . .
The Stranger informs us that it is based on actual events and characters. Which raises the difficulty, seen recently with the making of and release of Nitram, the story of the mass killer at Port Arthur, Tasmania in the 1990s, with many considering it inappropriate to make a film of these events and condemning the film as exploitation. However, the writer and director of Nitram were careful to focus on the central character and not to visualise his malevolent killings. And, it is the same here. This film is based on the abduction of Daniel Morecambe in Queensland. However, he is never named, and there is no re-enactment of his death. The focus is on the abductor and the criminal investigation.
And the investigation itself is quite extraordinary – the main action taking place eight years after the abduction.
A scruffy character boards a bus, sitting next to a friendly man who begins conversation. At their destination, the scruffy character helps out the man who wants to hire a car – and who then suggests that he could get a job for him, a mysteriously shady job, implications of drugs and smuggling, and he introduces him to a group of criminals. His friend from the bus is then ousted from the gang and the scruffy man, Henry Teague, is connected with another criminal, Mark. And, rightly, we wonder where this is going.
It should be stressed this is an atmospheric film with a lot of it in the dark, suggestions of the sinister, and a recurring image of a close-up of a vast mountain, and the camera moving over the forest trees. It is not a straightforward drama, but rather, for the audience, an evocative and provocative experience. This is to the credit of the writer-director, Thomas M Wright, who has had an acting career but also directed another film about crime and obsession, Acute Misfortune.
But, early in the drama, it is revealed that Mark is an undercover police officer and that the whole experience with Henry Teague is a sting, the drug issue a police set-up, involving a team of undercover police. In the meantime, there is continued reference to two police officers from Queensland who are investigating the case, having Henry as their main suspect, who has alibis and explanations which they have to test.
The film reminds us of the enormous stress placed on any undercover officer, keeping consistent with the scenario, continually watching oneself, being careful and the psychological pressure. This is true for Mark, frequent comments through the film about breathing in and breathing out all the blackness. And, for some humanity, we see him with his young son, a cheeky boy, whom he cares for at times in shared custody.
On the one hand, the playing out of the scenario is intriguing, the ability of the undercover agents to keep Henry involved, but ultimately playing him, demanding that for this kind of work he needs to tell the truth – which leads to a confession, filmed, but which some of the legal officers saying it is inadmissible.
Ultimately, Henry is persuaded to revisit the scene of the crime (with a group pretending that they are experts in crime scene cleansing). But, there is the long and painstaking search for evidence in an area which has been flooded over the years.
This is an excellent dramatic film, with top performances by British actor Sean Harris as Henry and veteran Australian and international actor Edgerton as Mark.
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