Ned Kelly,
based on the book by Robert Drewe
Nine out of
10
Alas, this
2003 motion picture has been neglected by the critics and perhaps more
importantly by the public, which has missed thus a very good action feature,
benefiting from a stellar cast, with the regretted Heath Ledger in the leading
role of Ned Kelly, Australia’s ‘boldest and most charismatic outlaw’, for whom
a petition would be signed at one point, by 30,000 people, to be liberated and
pardoned, albeit he will have been responsible at that point for the death of
quite a few men of the law, albeit after being provoked, one might say even
forced into rebellion by the viciousness of the local policemen, who abused
their power in the extreme.
Maybe the most
important attraction of this feature is the complexity of the main character,
who has been both such a famous ‘criminal’ and an innocent man to begin with,
decorated as a boy, but faced with the injustice of the local authorities,
which they also target his family and friends, would become a sort of leader of
a movement, writing to the governor at one point to declare that he would not
allow intrusion in his state, fighting a superior force and using cunning,
tactics to obtain incredible advantages, acting at times as a Robin Hood of the
South, burning the titles which the bank had in one single exemplar that listed
the mortgages for poor people known by Kelly and his gang…
In fact, this
cinephile was first attracted by the title of the film because he has had the
immense joy to read the Booker Prize Winner, True History of the Kelly Gang by
the ‘adjectival’ – this is an unusual word used frequently in that Magnus opus –
Peter Carey, where a different perspective on the outlaw and the people around
him is presented, but overall, we have the same idea of a man that was abused,
then forced to take justice into his own hands, becoming the quintessential
vigilante, but also a man that brings a fair division where he can – at one
point, they are robbing a bank and one of the men in his group takes a watch
from a client and Carey is very angry at that, stating that this is why their
image is so dark, because acts like this would create the impression that they
are simply thieves.
During that
same robbery, the leader of the gang places the pistol on the table and invites
the people present to shoot him if they feel like…nobody takes the invitation
up – probably in part because they would be afraid – and the fact is that this
outlier was quite popular – even when a substantial and then very large reward
was offered for information leading to his arrest, no leads would come out,
until Superintendent Francis Hare aka the legendary Geoffrey Rush first arrests
members of the entourage of the gang, then presses Aaron Sheritt, promising his
friend, Joseph Byrne aka Orlando Bloom, would be spared and obtains a promise
of collaboration.
It all
starts in a most unfair way, when Ned finds a horse in the wild, that belongs
to the postman and he takes it to the town to the owner he knows, only to meet
with a corrupt, violent, stupid policeman, who accuses him of theft, then takes
his gun out and shoots at the innocent man, who is lucky to escape because the
idiot is such a lousy shot…even then, the hero does not lose his head, acts coolly
and keeps the fool on the ground, emphasizing that he is not using violence
against a man of the law.
Unfortunately,
this is not enough and the comrades of the cretin arrive, beat and take the
wrong man to jail and they would not stop here, for they would soon steal
horses from Kelly and his brothers and friends – clever as these are, they just
take them back one night – then one of them is harassing the sister, threatens the
brothers, abusing his power and claiming he has a warrant and then showing his
revolver as the ‘warrant’, a clash that results in bloodshed and the revenge of
the police, who arrest and detain indecently the mother, trying to blackmail
the son with her liberty and also to catch the gang, once they visit the
family.
Ned Kelly
meets the beautiful Julia Cook aka the splendid Naomi Watts, married and with
children, with a gruesome, obnoxious spouse, who tries to tame a horse, fails
and when Kelly offers to do the job, mentioning he is known for his skill, just
takes a shotgun and kills the poor animal, only to prevent this man from
proving he is better than him.
The outlaw
and the beautiful wife have a tumultuous affair, she offers refuge when the
lover seems to be without alternatives, insists he should take flight, and save
his life, but when he accepts the idea, on condition that she takes a horse and
runs from home and children with him, there is no agreement over that.
Eventually,
when the authorities see that they do not apprehend the wanted men and his
comrades, after increasing the reward to an unprecedented 2,000 pounds,
probably a few hundred thousand today, they bring the harsh, determined,
unflinching superintendent Francis Hare aka Geoffrey Rush, so at ease in this
and any role, who shows grit, courage, strong will, prudence and resilience…
When one of
his men laughs and declares that they would catch and send the outlaw to ‘Kingdom
Come’, the cautious leader of the operation retorts – you will be there, if you
are not careful and pay attention …words to that effect.
An adjectival
Motion picture!
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