Review of The Legend of Ben Hall (2016) by Craig R — 06 Dec 2016

This is a film that started it's financing journey through crowdfunding and it just goes to show that the crowd can be just as good, if not better, at identifying talent and opportunity than so-called experts that work at government agencies.

This is a low-budget film without Australian screen agency funding and it looks amazing. The Australian bush has rarely been shot as beautifully except by indigenous filmmakers. The production design is world class and post-production (editing, sound design) is better than most Australian films with 20 times the budget.

Matthew Holmes, the director, knows how to construct shots and is not afraid to frame in close - a trait that a lot of Australian directors didn't seem able or willing to do for decades. There were some good performances despite the lack of experience.

Callan McCauliffe, a young actor with some professional experience (I am Number 4), was only on screen for 5 minutes but his performance was quite mesmerising. The dedication of the actors to their roles was obvious.

The marketing effort that the filmmakers put behind their own film was impressive and of better quality than the local distributors which are given greenlight power by the Australian government. It makes me wonder how many other talented Matthew Holmes are out there, eager and willing to deliver quality films like this one, but because they are not yet part of an "exclusive club" or bureacratic favourites, must do it hard like Holmes did with this one.

The only criticism was the flatness of the story and the structure. It was hard to see what motivated Hall or to touch the tragedy of Ben Hall and his gang. Despite all of that, if I won the lottery, Holmes has shown evidence of enough talent, enough blood and sweat being spilled for his craft, that I would willingly bequest him the cash for his next two films.

As an Australian tax payer who helps to fund Australian films through my tax contributions, I have to question why our screen agencies don't support more films like this and filmmakers like Holme's who, despite their uncredited status or lack of marketplace support, still manage to deliver.