‘Reminds me of a dog I once had…’
I don’t even know the false history of the Kelly Gang. My limited historical knowledge comes home to roost yet again. When I think of Ned Kelly, I think vaguely of an Australian outlaw once portrayed by Mick Jagger. This truly bizarre retelling from director Justin Kerzel (the man who gave us the moody and atmospheric Macbeth adaptation in 2015) presents the Kelly Gang as wild-eyed, cross-dressing bandits, screaming into the Australian bushland. I don’t know how much of it is ‘true’, but it’s all wilfully weird and gleefully peculiar.
After witnessing various atrocities as a child, Edward ‘Ned’ Kelly (George MacKay) develops a seemingly justified hatred of the British soldiers occupying his land, and of society in general. Charlie Hunnam and Nicholas Hoult are the aggressors-in-chief, with Hunnam particularly ghastly in a role that grants him the rare opportunity to speak in his native Geordie tongue. Russell Crowe is also knocking about for a bit at the start of the film, which, as ever, is a treat.
I’m all for taking risks, particularly in a big studio picture like this, but it too often feels like Kerzel and his cast take the road less travelled purely for the sake of it, rather than for any kind of artistic reason. Having said that, rising star MacKay is a revelation in the titular role, often carrying the film through its many difficult passages, and it is his naked aggression that ensures that the True History of the Kelly Gang never strays too far into the realm of the inaccessible.
The strobe lit execution scene that makes up the film’s denouement is True History of the Kelly Gang in microcosm; visually inventive but ultimately frustrating. The kind of film that will divide viewers – something that I suppose is commendable in an age when so few directors (outside of the horror genre) are willing to take risks.