Review of True History of the Kelly Gang (2019) by Philipne — 17 Aug 2020

Visually beautiful, imaginative, well-acted, with a wild mix of punk and Aussie outback. Not a documentary history, but it captures the essence of Ned's turn from a compassionate boy to a young outlaw in a society cruelly hostile to poor Irish settlers like his family.

A bonkers, non-stop portrayal by George MacKay as an oedipally-conflicted, maybe bi-sexual Ned with 0% body fat, with a special shout-out to Orlando Schwerdt, the young man who skillfully acts Ned as a boy.

"Dream-like" is an overused term, but here it best describes the atmosphere from Ned's boyhood to his gang time and up to his tragic end. There are bits of anachronistic weirdness, and Ned never explains why he lives most of his life shirtless (MacKay's body is muscular and alarmingly lean -- one look at him and it's clear how he delivered all that physicality in "1917" -- but at some point you worry whether George should should eat a bit more food).

It's a hypnotic two hours. Plenty of blood, sexual situations and f-words and c-words thrown about, but not nearly as graphic as many mainstream films. Worth every minute, especially for the hallucinogenic final shootout.

Some see Ned as a folk-hero, and some as a bandit and murderer ... this film leaves you sympathetic to the man who was executed at 25 but in many ways was still an innocent boy emotionally. Greatly recommended by this non-Aussie Irish-American.