Ned Kelly
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DVD Review
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Review
Ned Kelly and his three gang members are falsely accused, go on the run, commit horrible deeds, are cornered and have one last showdown ... trouble is, none of it is true.
This DVD tells the story of The Kelly gang, two brothers and two friends who were rough Irish settlers making a living in a hard country. The Australia of the time was moving slowly from the convict era (Kelly's father was brought over on a convict ship) to the birth of modern Australia, and it's perhaps because of this transition that the events of this 'legend' happen as they do. The rough justice of the convict era is still very prevalent and the constabulary aren't portrayed well. They come across as either corrupt or heavy handed and it's an incident with one of them that gets Ned Kelley and his brother accused of a crime they didn't commit, sending them into hiding. During this time his mother is arrested and locked up, breeding a real resentment for authority with the gang, and driving them to become bushrangers ... the Australian equivalent of highwaymen.
As they start to kill and rob, the police send Superintendent Francis Hare (Rush) to track down these outlaws and bring them to justice at any cost. The reward on their heads is the biggest the world has seen, and they are party to a special act of Parliament whereby anyone, any member of the police or public, can shoot them on sight.
The trouble the police have is that the gang are developing a folk-hero reputation, and no matter who they bribe, blackmail or incarcerate, no-one will turn against them. Despite this, however, the police eventually track them down to a small town in the bush, where they have the famous last stand, Ned Kelly appearing in the armour that arguably made him famous.
As a film in its own right, it's a fairly acceptable, if geographically inaccurate, western. A band of outlaws on the run from the law, committing desperate acts in desperate times. But that's all it is ... a B-movie with a good cast. It may have a crystal clear transfer with a great 5.1 mix (especially during the gun fights) but it is essentially just a mediocre western with an over the top score and a very tenuous link to the real story of Ned Kelly.
The film is based on the book, Our Sunshine by Robert Drewe, which is listed under the fiction section at ironoutlaw.com, a website for all things Kelly. No historians were consulted in the writing of the screenplay or the making of the movie, so what you see is pure fantasy. The bare bones of the story are all there, but it's the presentation and emotion that are all just plain wrong.
"The Ned Kelly story is easily told, he was a murderous thug who deserved to be hanged, and he was." ... is how Bill Bryson describes this tale in his book Down Under. Now, I'm all for historical inaccuracies for the sake of a good movie, but the fact that a cold blooded murderer is shown as a sympathetic anti-hero jarred somewhat. He is shown as feeling real remorse for shooting a policeman as he ran away, shouting, "Don't run and I won't shoot you!" In reality he held him down and shot him in the genitals to maximise the pain and indignity of death. See what I mean, the fact that policemen were shot is correct and in the film, but the way it happened and the way it is portrayed are worlds apart.
The only real DVD extra is called 'Ned Kelly in Popular Culture' which mainly looks at other films of this 'legend' and unfavourably compares them to this brand new offering. Other than trailers, the only other things you get are stills, either an 'Artist to Feature' comparison or four still photos of the real members of the gang.
A disappointing disc for a disappointing film that bares no relation to the real events of the Kelly gang ... thing is, I wouldn't have minded if the film was any good. Ah well, "Such is life."
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