After hearing that the family of the boy whose case the movie is based on was devastated that this film came to fruition, I feel conflicted and ill-equipped to give a verdict on how appropriate it was to go through with making this into a film.
However, as a big fan of Joel Edgerton, I picked this movie not because of the case behind it, but because of its cast — all of whom did a phenomenal and delicate job.
It’s slow and grinding, but separates itself from the real events by instead focusing on the harrowing weight and non-stop work of the Australian police. There’s an unsettling, ominous, yet tender unwrapping of the ethics surrounding entrapment, as well as a disturbingly touching look into a friendship that feels all too painful despite the circumstances.
As a fictional story, The Stranger is complex. As a real-life retelling, it avoids being exploitive by avoiding real names all together. It’s brilliant in how it uses sound design and performances to convey the weight of the trauma and violence without ever showing it on screen. In a way, it’s tremendous filmmaking — I just don’t know how I feel about the victims’s family being against it.
After hearing that the family of the boy whose case the movie is based on was devastated that this film came to fruition, I feel conflicted and ill-equipped to give a verdict on how appropriate it was to go through with making this into a film.
However, as a big fan of Joel Edgerton, I picked this movie not because of the case behind it, but because of its cast — all of whom did a phenomenal and delicate job.
It’s slow and grinding, but separates itself from the real events by instead focusing on the harrowing weight and non-stop work of the Australian police. There’s an unsettling, ominous, yet tender unwrapping of the ethics surrounding entrapment, as well as a disturbingly touching look into a friendship that feels all too painful despite the circumstances.
As a fictional story, The Stranger is complex. As a real-life retelling, it avoids being exploitive by avoiding real names all together. It’s brilliant in how it uses sound design and performances to convey the weight of the trauma and violence without ever showing it on screen. In a way, it’s tremendous filmmaking — I just don’t know how I feel about the victims’s family being against it.
