STRANGERLAND: FAMILY MATTERS

To say the family featured in STRANGERLAND is dysfunctional would be an understatement. This new drama starring Nicole Kidman and Joseph Fiennes will surely disturb most and present all with a story that will frighten but not in a jump-in-your-face way. If nothing else it will start conversation with those who watch and go out for coffee after.

The location is a desert town in Australia, a beautiful scenic area of stone and sand that offers a home to what appear to be drifters and those getting by. Tossed into this town is the Parker family, recently relocating there for reasons unknown until later on. None of the four family members are happy to be here and some are more vocal about it than the rest.

Father Matthew (Fiennes) is a pharmacist who seems to have trouble relating to anyone in the house, in particular his wife Catherine (Kidman), a woman who still feels that emotional and physical need for her husband but whose affections go unfulfilled. Their oldest child, daughter Lily (Maddison Brown) is the rebellious child, a young girl turned 15 who seeks the attentions of any and all males she encounters, something that will lead this family down a torturous path. Lastly there is Tommy (Nicholas Hamilton), a young boy who is torn by the problems his family faces and who deals with it be sneaking out and walking the streets and nearby area in the dark of night.

The movie opens by exposing these problems to us but never explaining just what it was that happened to bring these four people to this point. All we know for sure is that Lily offers what most would call tramp like behavior, sleeping with boys her age and older. Is this a response to their moving, is it because of something at home or is it just an act of teenage angst? Before the end of the film all possibilities will be pursued.

It comes to a head when Catherine discovers one day that both children have not gone to school and have disappeared. With a major sand storm on the way, she contacts Matthew and they go to report them missing only to find themselves in the midst of the storm as they reach the center of town. When the storm blows over they report the missing children to the local police Chief David Rae (Hugo Weaving). Concerned but not overly so, he lets them know the children must be missing for 24 hours before a search is called for but begins on his own.

As the movie progresses the bits and pieces we’ve been left to wonder about are slowly revealed, the problems that laid beneath the surface of this family that they were dealing with, each in their own way but never together. Tossed into the mix is the problems faced by Chief Rae, personal with the woman he’s sleeping with whose brother may be a suspect in the disappearance and his attraction to the attractive Catherine. With each passing day as the children aren’t found, suspicions and accusations will fly, past wounds that had scabbed over will be opened wide and the mental anguish of all involved will take center stage.

This movie is not your normal fast paced detective drama that one would inspect. With the location being a small town in the middle of wide open spaces it doesn’t have that quick cut megacity feel to it. Instead we’re presented with a small town where most everyone feels they know everyone else’s business but at the same time don’t have a clue what is going on. People try to help by joining the search, refuse to believe anyone they know could have done harm to the children and all look with glaring eyes at the couple whose children have gone and they feel may be responsible.

Kidman does a great job here, as both a tormented mother concerned for her children and as a woman who loves and longs for a husband who is in retreat for some reason. Fiennes comes off as a combination of unlikeable and sympathetic at the same time. Weaving takes on a commanding presence in the midst of it all while at the same time showing a vulnerable side that makes him wonder till the very end just what happened.

As I said, this movie is not fast paced but not so deadly slow as to be boring. On the contrary each moment on screen doesn’t feel wasted. It all combines to make a taught thriller that keeps you wondering just what will happen next and with whom. It could be that the children hitched a ride, got lost in the desert or met with were the victims of foul play and the movie has you guessing with each scene. In the end it makes for a film that will hold our attention and consider the lives of the Parker family. Entertaining isn’t quite the word to describe the film but it will end with you thinking long after the final credits role.

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