Nitram

Too many prim reviewers have dissed this movie. They don't approve of its topic. They don't think it should ever have been made.

Get over it, Sunday School moralists, the human species is merde. If few of us ever commit suicide or murder, the thought is never too far away. The unbearable pain inside Martin Bryant is the pain inside us all.

Justin Kurzel's take on Bryant is clinical and highly affecting, aided by great lens work. Though Caleb Jones got a best-actor gong, I thought he was upstaged by the actorly motions of Judy Davis, playing the mother of the mass killer. The soundscape, by Jed Kurzel, is also ominously good.

This won't do big box office, but do watch it if you can. A fitting companion piece for Kurzel's 'Snowtown'. Ain't my fault, if gruesome murder is almost the only topic, that moves Australian directors to greatness.