‘You ain’t gotta worry about it. They’re nothing…’
To what extent should cinema be something that you actively ‘enjoy’? It’s an odd question on the face of it. Surely, the whole point of going to the cinema is to enjoy that experience. And yet, can anyone say they ‘enjoyed’ The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? It’s certainly not the word I’d use. We need to qualify this somehow then. Cinema should make you feel something. That can be happiness or empathy or joy, but it can also be sadness or anger or fear. Snowtown is not a film that I enjoyed. I endured it. I’ll probably never watch it again. But there is absolutely no denying that it’s a powerful piece of work that emphatically achieves what it sets out to achieve. This is a film that asks us, forces us, to confront the darkest impulses that reside at the very bottom of the human heart. Bit much…
It’s best to go into Snowtown knowing as little as possible so I’ll keep the synopsis brief. Essentially, murderous lunatic John Bunting (Daniel Henshall) manipulates 16-year-old Jamie Vlassakis (Lucas Pittaway) into joining him on a killing spree.
Based on the real-life case of the infamous Snowtown murders, Snowtown is the directorial debut of Justin Kurzel, who would revisit this subject matter again with Nitram, a similarly bleak film about the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania. The two form a macabre double bill that showcases Kurzel’s ability to create uncomfortably authentic and realistic portrayals of two of the darkest moments in Australian history. He also has an eye for spotting talent; both Pittaway and especially Henshall are excellent here, the latter demonstrating how an assertive and charismatic man can persuade others to commit the most horrific acts of violence – even if some of the victims seemingly deserved their fate (some of them were child sex offenders). This is all accompanied by Jed Kurzel’s haunting industrial score and a complete lack of colour in the cinematography. The colour scheme is as jaded and lifeless as Vlassakis himself, as he becomes desensitised to the violence later in the film.
Snowtown is a powerful and often shocking depiction of how a man could brutally torture and murder at least 11 people over several years and not just get away with it, but recruit others into his death cult – a chilling and visceral film. I did not enjoy it.
