The Dry

Much in the manner of Ray Lawrence’s Lantana (2001) and Jindabyne  (2006) Robert Connolly’s The Dry is a whodunnit steeped in the Australian vernacular and closely interwoven with its physical setting, a setting that, like the Deep South in American movies, carries an immediate burden of meaning.    

Based on a best-selling novel of the same name by Jane Harper, The Dry tells the story of Aaron Falk (Eric Bana), a federal police agent who returns to his hometown of Kiewarra (a fictional name but the film is set in the real backblocks of the Wimmera, a farming region in Western Victoria) following the apparent suicide of his childhood friend, Luke (Martin Dingle Wall), who, it seems, killed his wife and child before turning his gun on himself, a victim of the drought-ridden lot of the  local community. Twenty years previously Aaron had left Kiewarra under a cloud of suspicion after his girlfriend drowned in the local river and old wounds are opened up as Aaron decides to investigate the murder-suicide.  

The film starts by rather bluntly establishing the contrast between Aaron’s now-urbanised point-of-view and that of the farming community he left behind where nothing has really changed since he left. This difference in perspective is however critical for the film’s plot and emotional journey as it drives Aaron’s decision to investigate not only the immediate tragedy but that of his abruptly-ended youth, which he feels is in some way connected to it. The film regularly cuts back-and-forth between the two time frames. 

Once Aaron rolls up his sleeves to help the town’s rookie police sergeant (Keir O’Donnell) explain Luke’s near-incomprehensible deed the film finds its feet, with Bana who was also a co-producer giving a sensitive and well-judged central performance as Aaron negotiates the divisions and connections between past and present. Bana is well-supported by a strong cast including besides O’Donnell, Genevieve O’Reilly as Aaron’s school days friend and sometime romantic interest, Matt Nable as his cousin, Grant, and John Polson as the local school principal.

Stefan Duscio’s cinematography effectively makes the landscape yet another character whether it be the parched, flat farmlands or the Picnic at Hanging Rock-style pockets of gnarly eucalypts and huge volcanic boulders, everything sunburnt and shrouded in dust whilst Peter Raeburn contributes an effective mood-shaping score.

The Dry is more effective as drama than thriller particularly in the latter stages when the plot revelations come a little too thick and fast, the final chapter in particular deserving better integration with the main story. Nevertheless it is an ambitious film well-worth your attention. 

 

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