O Bando de Ned Kelly

Well, Australia, you really threw me for a loop with this one. I felt like I was on the verge of an epileptic fit throughout the whole movie. It’s avant-garde, brutal, and totally off the rails. There are some bright moments—mostly while Russell Crowe is on screen. He probably saw where this was headed and wisely decided to check out before it got even weirder. But there are plenty of low points too, especially the ending, which was just bonkers. Honestly, the whole movie is full of wild scenes. That said, there’s something about it that sticks. The Aussies don’t care about fitting into Hollywood trends—they aren’t concerned with checking boxes like including a token transgender character or what have you. This is all about raw, gritty people, and they don’t look too pretty, which fits for the 19th-century setting. And can we talk about George MacKay? I have no idea what was going through his head, but I’d bet he needed a few months off to recover after filming this. His performance was absolutely insane. (20/11/2020)

The extremely impressive environment in which the story takes place goes hand in hand with the dense atmosphere of the whole film. Until Ned Kelly starts his own gang, the film deserves four stars. Then the plot starts to drag a bit, and some scenes are on the verge of being tolerable. Russell Crowe has aged almost beyond recognition here; still, I would have liked it if his rather repulsive character had stayed in the film longer. In conclusion, I must say that George MacKay was perhaps born for the lead role, as he portrayed it believably. (65%) (16/06/2021)