Goldstone is Gamilaroi filmmaker Ivan Sen’s follow up to Mystery Road, this time taking Detective Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen) to a remote town, investigating a human trafficking case involving outlaw motorcycle gangs and a billion dollar mining operation on the outskirts of town.
Local cop Josh (Alex Russell) once an idealist, but now slowly sinking into the ease that a blind eye affords him, is faced with a moral quandary, one that is heightened by the tension between aligned mining representative David Wenham (whose Indigenous art adorned walls are an on brand counterpoint with his attitude toward race relations) and far less sweet than the Pies she bakes Mayor Jacki Weaver who are in conflict with local Indigenous landholders represented by the late Mr Gulpilil. Will an unexpected connection with trafficked working girl Michelle Davidson and solidarity with Swan’s badge be enough to see him take action?
While this removes (some) of the personal connection to the case element that was a driver for Mystery Road, the themes of racial (and general) apathy toward humanity in the face of financial gain have a level of unsettling authenticity. Sen is not just a filmmaker with a social conscience and personal reflection, but one that has a genuine style and eye for action. The top down action sequence above the mining camp portable structures and a similar angle vehicular confrontation are both excellent.
An engaging and important story, that leaves a chilling after taste of stories untold, be it a red dust covered hair clip, the ever present wild dogs or the fate of Swan’s own daughter.
Goldstone is Gamilaroi filmmaker Ivan Sen’s follow up to Mystery Road, this time taking Detective Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen) to a remote town, investigating a human trafficking case involving outlaw motorcycle gangs and a billion dollar mining operation on the outskirts of town.
Local cop Josh (Alex Russell) once an idealist, but now slowly sinking into the ease that a blind eye affords him, is faced with a moral quandary, one that is heightened by the tension between aligned mining representative David Wenham (whose Indigenous art adorned walls are an on brand counterpoint with his attitude toward race relations) and far less sweet than the Pies she bakes Mayor Jacki Weaver who are in conflict with local Indigenous landholders represented by the late Mr Gulpilil. Will an unexpected connection with trafficked working girl Michelle Davidson and solidarity with Swan’s badge be enough to see him take action?
While this removes (some) of the personal connection to the case element that was a driver for Mystery Road, the themes of racial (and general) apathy toward humanity in the face of financial gain have a level of unsettling authenticity. Sen is not just a filmmaker with a social conscience and personal reflection, but one that has a genuine style and eye for action. The top down action sequence above the mining camp portable structures and a similar angle vehicular confrontation are both excellent.
An engaging and important story, that leaves a chilling after taste of stories untold, be it a red dust covered hair clip, the ever present wild dogs or the fate of Swan’s own daughter.
