In a Savage Land (1999)

Director:

Bill Bennett

Writers:

Bill Bennett (writer)
Jennifer Cluff (writer)

Release Date:

21 October 1999 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

In the tradition of Out of Africa.

Plot:

Two anthropologists married to each other go to an island off of Papua New Guinea for field research in pre-World War II.

Plot Keywords:

Suicide | Female Nudity | Anthropology | Native

Awards:

7 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Rufus Sewell	...	Mick Carpenter
Martin Donovan	...	Dr. Phillip Spence
Maya Stange	...	Evelyn Spence
Max Cullen	...	Douglas Stevens
John Howard	...	Rev Macgregor
Andrew S. Gilbert	...	Gerry
Marshall Napier	...	Sir Geoffrey Hallerton
Susan Lyons	...	Helen Stevens
Don Barker	...	Barman

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | USA:Not Rated | Australia:MA | Spain:T

Filming Locations:

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Company:

Hollywood Partners

Quotes:

[first lines]
Evelyn Spence: I once met a man, not my husband, another man. He looked back on a life. What would you carry into the darkness? For me, I'll take the smell of a pearl shell, freshly opened, one day on a beach.

Covering too much

Let's see, we start off with gender issues, spousal domination, economic exploitation, colonialism, church oppression, scientific oppression through cultural arrogance and nationalism. Although, engaging and great to watch the film just tries to cover too much and winds up just giving superficial attention to all these issues.

I always have trouble with films that have an attractive lead actress, who has her hair pulled back and wears glasses when she's supposed to be dowdy or a-sexual. The different transformations of Maya Strang were a bit hard to take and the sequence where she goes native was over the top.

I would have liked better character development and a stronger focus. That said, the film was not a waste of time and Ms Strang is actor to watch.