Review of Mystery Road (2013) by Kong L — 13 Feb 2016

Last night I went looking for a decent film to get lost in and I found "Mystery Road" on Netflix.

Ivan Sen starts his film with the discovery of the decaying corpse of a young indigenous Australian girl, in a drainage ditch brutally murdered and raped. The deeply racist Police Chief assigns Jay Swan (the remarkable Aaron Pederson) an Australian Indigenous police detective, to work the case solo and blandly offers him no resources. "We're strapped right now, you understand?".

Jay Swan, who had recently been reassigned to work in his old community, the aptly named "Massacre Creek" in a rural part of the Outback, has more problems than solutions with an alcoholic ex-wife and a daughter who he sees after what appears to be a long absence with a full cast on her hand. The only explanation she offers is "just fighting'". The biggest menace appear to be the local police who appear to be part of a massive conspiracy involving drug production, murder and prostitution.

However rather than being a simple who done it it slowly evolves into a modern day "High Noon" with a morality play of white supremacy. It doesn't hurt that the climax leads to one of the best shoot-em-ups in recent memory.

4.5 Stars out of five.