Unfinished Sky (2007)

Director:

Peter Duncan

Writers:

Peter Duncan (written by)
Kees van der Hulst (screenplay)

Release Date:

31 January 2008 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

to love, sometimes we must risk everything.

Plot:

An Outback farmer takes in an Afghani woman who has fled from a brothel. |

Plot Keywords:

Farmer | Female Nudity | Australia

Awards:

15 wins & 13 nominations

Cast

William McInnes	...	John Woldring
Monic Hendrickx	...	Tahmeena
Milo	...	Elvis
Bille Brown	...	Bob Potter
Christopher Sommers	...	Mike Potter
David Field	...	Sgt Carl Allen
Sam Cotton	...	Angus
Christina Anderson	...	Supermarket Shopper
Renai Caruso	...	Kate
Zulaikha Deen	...	Shahla (6yo)
Scott McRae	...	Policeman #1
Roy Billing	...	Royce
Mercia Deane-Johns	...	Barbara
Philippa Coulthard	...	Rose (as Philippa Couthard)
Hannah Cocker	...	Shahla (11yo)

Also Known As:

Céu Inacabado (Brazil) (cable TV title) [pt]

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English | Dari

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Australia:M | New Zealand:M

Filming Locations:

Beaudesert, Queensland, Australia

Company:

New Holland Pictures

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "De wereld draait door: (#4.67)" (2008)

Wake in Fright - You're in Wolf Creek

Yet another small Australian movie made with government money with lots of outback (or at least country) photography featuring laconic Aussie blokes (or one anyway) faced with something strange and sinister. Its origins are in fact Dutch – it is a re-make by Peter Duncan ("Passion" and "Children of the Revolution") of a 1998 Dutch film "The Polish Bride". Sheepfarmer John (William McInnes) has his solitary breakfast interrupted by the arrival of Tahmeena (Monic Hendrickx), a distraught woman who speaks no English. As he suspects she might be an illegal immigrant he takes her in and attempts to communicate with her. He also happens to hear of the disappearance of a cleaner from the pub in the nearby town. Without giving too much away, he finds some longstanding local acquaintances of his have been up to no good, and this leads up to a suspenseful climax.

One common complaint about Australian films is the weakness of the scriptwriting. The writers here have given us some very spare dialogue. Tahmeena speaks only her own language and John doesn't speak much anyway. But both main characters have interesting back stories which are revealed gradually through the film. I'm not sure about the ending – there are one or two loose ends flapping about, but it's reasonably upbeat.

William McInnes is just superb as farmer John, a man just going through the motions of existence before the exotic Tahmeena arrives at his place, and then jolted into caring for someone again. As an actor he has a good range – compare this performance with the rugged urban type he played in "Look Both Ways" a couple of years ago. Monic Hendrickx, playing 10 years later the same role as she did in "The Polish Bride", is completely convincing as the desperate refugee. David Field as the local cop also gives a good performance and I also must mention Elvis the dog, one of the more personable canines seen on screen lately.

This struck me as a reasonably commercial film, like "Wolf Creek" and I'm not sure why one of the TV networks wouldn't have made something like this. There's a story, suspense, good acting, and plenty of gum trees. As an art house movie release, it's not going to get a big audience.