True History of the Kelly Gang
Description
1917’s George MacKay puts his charismatic stamp on the legendary 19th-century Australian outlaw in Justin Kurzel’s thrilling, drenched-in-blood adaptation of Peter Carey’s acclaimed novel. Rebelling against the British that have colonized his homeland and humiliated his parents, Ned Kelly fronts a gang that is flamboyant in dress—and mayhem. The outstanding cast includes Charlie Hunnam as a scurrilous lawman and Russell Crowe as a grizzled bushranger. Jed Kurzel’s eerie score and rural Victoria’s blasted landscape further the tense aura in this gloriously offbeat Western.
“The Robin Hood-like renegade hero of the Antipodean common man, Ned Kelly gets a ripping reinvention in director Justin Kurzel’s feverish punk Western, a raw rebel yell of a movie that combines visceral violence with a kind of delirious, scrappy poetry.” –David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
Biographies
Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel made his feature debut with The Snowton Murders (2011), winning the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards for best direction. His other films include Macbeth (2015) and Assassin’s Creed (2016).
“In Australia, [Ned Kelly is] made out to be a beacon. [His image] was at the beginning of our opening ceremony at the Olympics. The right-wing use him as a kind of icon. He’s been kind of stolen by everyone as something that is Australian, and I was really curious about why we place a certain sense of who we are on him. He was a kid, when he died, and there was something about poking at the mythology of him that I thought could be really, really interesting.” –Justin Kurzel, Deadline