This gripping film, which has an anti-colonial, feminist, First Nations perspective, is something to be proud of.
Goa-Gunggari-Wakka Wakka Leah Purcell, a Murri filmmaker, has travelled a long and winding route from a favourite bedtime story read by her late mother to the big-screen premiere of her bush epic The Drover’s Wife.
The classic short story by bush poet Henry Lawson about a stressed bush mother who zealously guards her young children while her husband is gone on business lingered in Purcell’s thoughts like a squirming niggle that needed to be unpicked. She would star in the Helpmann Award-winning stage play that she also wrote many years later, in 2016. Purcell gave Lawson’s anonymous protagonist a First Nations origin and the nickname Molly Johnson, rewriting the story from an anti-colonial, Black, and feminist slant. This film is her third attempt at the material, delving more into Molly’s problems in the novel of the same name. It’s still engrossing.
Purcell, the writer-director, is back in Molly’s skin. She is a strong and proud woman who stands up to those who want to infringe on her hardscrabble property. Yadaka (a charismatic Rob Collins), an escaped convict and traditional storyteller, does not receive a warm welcome when he arrives at her house in broken chains. The weight of history that this soulful guy carries with him unearths tragedy from her past, which is only hinted at in the dramatic opening sequence of the film.
The impending death of a large huffing, puffing bull at the end of Molly’s shotgun causes a memory of another tragic occurrence to disturb Molly. The vision of a wounded and battered Molly on horse and cart in the blazing sun is intercut with these two sleep terrors. What’s the connection between everything?
Purcell has done an incredible job putting something together that is even better than Lawson’s. She brings the entire force of her inimitable screen presence to Molly, as she has done in films such as Lantana, Last Cab to Darwin, and Somersault, as well as important series such as Wentworth and Redfern Now. It’s a treat to see her at work in a position she’s familiar with. Collins, who previously collaborated with Purcell on episodes of her helmed First Nations superhero series Cleverman, more than holds his own. In a traditional dance performance, Yadaka tells the tragedy of that poor bull, he captivates.
When the focus is on Molly and Yadaka, the picture is at its best. The advent of a new cop in town, Sergeant Klintoff, played with charm by Lambs of God actor Sam Reid, nearly immediately upends their shaky ceasefire. He can’t help but bring the overwhelming arm of the law down on Yadaka, despite his good intentions.
The beauty of this horrific tale is enhanced by cinematographer Mark Wareham’s remarkable eye for capturing seasonal variations in the Blue Mountains. The Drover’s Wife is set in the past but depressingly relevant to the present, dealing with the profound scars of the Frontier Wars, police cruelty in jail, and government policy that led to the Stolen Generation.
Purcell weaves a smart strand about the burgeoning feminist movement’s failure to be truly intersectional, casting Cut Snake’s Jessica De Gouw as Klintoff’s wife Louisa, but the last act is a touch clumsy. That’s a minor flaw in a stunning, and yet relatively uncommon, look at the tumultuous birth of modern Australia from the perspective of a woman, as recounted by a woman director. And that is something to rejoice over.
Molly Johnson (Purcell) is heavily pregnant, and her husband is gone droving cattle, leaving her to care for their four children on their remote Snowy Mountains property.
When she meets Yadaka (Rob Collins), an Aboriginal guy on the run from the cops, they are both forced to face long-held truths.
“The spirit of Henry Lawson’s short narrative is there, as are his underpinning themes of racism, frontier brutality, and gender violence,” she remarked. “I’ve given them oxygen and pushed them to the front of the line.” However, there is a distinction since I have layered in my personal Indigenous family history as the foundation, exposing the true truth of these times.” Purcell also gave Molly Johnson, the drover’s wife, a name. Something Lawson didn’t manage to accomplish.
“I was well aware of his romanticised version of women in general, of that lifestyle on the land, and how the black man’s writing was clichéd — he was the lazy black man,” she explained.
“Of course, there’s the black snake in Henry Lawson’s short story.”
That was replaced by a black man. “However, that black man emerges as the hero. “It’s a return of respect to the Aboriginal man.” A boy and an Aboriginal man stare off into the distance. In The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson, Yadaka (Rob Collins) and Molly Johnson’s son Danny (Malachi Dower-Roberts) form a bond.
Eight years ago, Purcell began writing The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson. “When the Northern Territory intervention took place in 2014, Aboriginal men were being demonised all over social media. “I just answered, Well, that’s not true,” she explained. “I grew up with my Aboriginal uncles – they were my father figures,” she says. “I have nephews who are wonderful fathers and grandfathers – who are always there for their families.”
Yadaka was partially modelled on Purcell’s great grandpa. “My great grandfather was regarded as a fantastic man who prioritised his family and worked tirelessly to provide a house for them.” Purcell undertook substantial research, delving deep into Australian history and interacting with elders and property owners in the Snowy Mountains, in order to give each character depth and a backstory.
“I was able to be brutally honest by using the western genre and setting it in 1893.” Oh, but that was back then, people say. “No, I say, this is all still extremely important today,” I say. “And we must make that transformation and turn the mirror back on ourselves and who we are now,” says the narrator.
Bain Stewart, Purcell’s husband, is the film’s principal producer and the executive producer of Oombarra Productions, which he and Purcell co-own. An properly dressed Indigenous man and Indigenous woman stare at the camera. Bain Stewart and Leah Purcell are a formidable duo.
He’s a Ngugi-Goenpul-Noonuccal from Queensland’s North Stradbroke and Moreton Islands. “Leah is so genuine, true, and honest, and she just tells it like it is,” Stewart added. “Someone influential remarked that in 20 years, 50 years, and 100 years, they’ll be teaching Leah’s version of The Drover’s Wife instead than Lawson’s version, because it’s closer to the truth and reality. “People are saying who needs a Marvel superhero when you’ve got Molly Johnson?” Good art, according to Purcell, is about sparking a conversation. She wants her audience to be intellectually stimulated and on the edge of their seats during her performance. “You’ll be tossed and turned,” she warned.
“You’re going to get thrown around, get an emotional left hook, and then an emotional right uppercut, and you’re going to be like, ‘What just happened?'” This video will linger in your mind, and you will want to discuss it.” Purcell has been contacted about adapting The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson into an opera, and a Premium Limited TV series is also in the works. “I want this story to reach as many people as possible, and I want Australia to rally behind Molly Johnson and support her.” Let’s also knock Ned Kelly off his perch and replace him with Molly Johnson. “For our country, a hero, apologies, a heroine.”
The movie will be released on May 5 in Australia and May 13 in the United Kingdom.
Where to Watch The Drover’s Wife (2022)?
The Drover’s Wife (2022) will be premiering in Theatres on May 13, 2022 in the US. We do not recommend illegal streaming and always suggest paying for the content you like to watch.
Is The Drover’s Wife (2022) available on Amazon Prime?
Amazon prime will not be streaming The Drover’s Wife (2022). Additionally, several other films are streaming on Prime. Our recommendations are The Voyagers, It’s a Wonderful Life, Notting Hill, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Is The Drover’s Wife (2022) available on HBO Max?
HBO Max will not be streaming The Drover’s Wife (2022). However, HBO’s subscribers can enjoy its other popular streams like Euphoria, When Harry Met Sally and Promising Young Woman.
Is The Drover’s Wife (2022) available on Hulu?
The Drover’s Wife (2022) is not available on Hulu. The new release line-up additionally includes Pam and Tommy, How I Met Your Father, Abbott Elementary, and Vikings.
Is The Drover’s Wife (2022) available on Netflix?
The Drover’s Wife (2022) will not be available to stream on Netflix. However, other brilliant shows like The Power of The Dog, The Social Network, Tick, Tick, Boom, and much more are available.