THE SNOWTOWN MURDERS (A Review...a Very Late Review...But I Just Saw it on Netflix. Have You Seen it? No? Well, Then it’s New to You.) *+Spoilers* (kind of)
This movie is about one horrible thing (child molestation) that morphs into another horrible thing (see movie title). 1st thing’s 1st--it’s in Australian so I had to turn on the subtitles. We see the crap-scapes of modest, suburban livin’ around the lives of a teen-aged boy and his mum, plus his 2 brothers...or, eventually 3 brothers. Anyway one’s a half brother, which I learned after reading about the movie and actual events the movie is based on (I didn’t know there were actual events!).
I was confused a lot (see uncertainty regarding number of siblings above). At one point there were some quiet, still shots of a blood stained bedroom and bathroom, and between you and me, I have no idea who got shot. Oh wait, I think it might’ve been Barry. Anyway! There is a little left up to assumption that I think they clear up as the moments lapse, but there’s a lot I’m still unsure about. I don’t know if it was a lack of my paying attention or the way the story was told, but It’s something I gotta live with.
So these brothers get violated by their mom’s boyfriends and, see, even the extent of the violation is unclear--there were def nudey pics. Later we see the boyfriend walking about naked--a frightening sight in itself--so one may assume there was some physicality involved. That’s how it starts (God, I’m still talking about the beginning). This homosexual, cross-dressing fellow who comes in to counsel the mom and introduces her to John Bunting. How did these people find her? Or how did she find these people? I don’t know. But okay. They start having aggressive, anti-child-molestation meetings in the kitchen. They kinda shack up, John and the mother, played wonderfully by Louise Harris (Something I found interesting on her Wiki: Harris is a single mother with one son. Prior to landing her role as Elizabeth Harvey in Snowtown, she was unemployed. This is the kind of rise out of mediocrity I like!)
I sympathized with Jamie, the teenage son, played by Lucas Pittaway, who I’d like to see more of (IMDBing him right now). Jamie’s a fatherless, shy, well-meaning young lad who gets sucked into this dysfunctional world of not only molestation & rape (+ little bit of incest), but murder. You are sold on this movie, yes? How many times do I have to repeat the mention of these atrocities before you go watch.
Insane man John Bunting, played real good by Daniel Henshall, is a disgraceful f***, who you might kind of like at first, but you then see he is a sick, grown bully who first helps, but ultimately helps destroy, Jamie and his family.
Other reasons to see this film: dead Kangaroo dismemberment, uncomfortable crime scenes/torture, a v. heavyset naked woman.
The Snowtown Murders--currently streaming on Netflix and potentially available wherever else you watch stuff.
dededos
2087
snowghoul
kaledo-art