Warrick Thornton, best know for his searing 2009 film ‘Samson and Delilah’ said in the Q and A (at the Sydney Film Festival) that he wrote the script as an angry young man and after taking 20 years to make the film he’s now an angry old man. He also said when he first conceived of the film in his youth he wanted to throw stones but now as he has ‘grown up’ he wants to have conversations. This more measured tone is apparent early on and frankly surprising considering how many anger inducing themes are on show: the stolen generation (unclear in the film but clarified by the director afterwards), ‘assimilation’ of First Nations people and the clash between indigenous spirituality and colonial Christianity. Set in 1940s remote outback Australia, as a desert boy, played magnetically by Aswan Reid, is taken to Catholic orphanage under the care of head nun Cate Blanchett (played with a committed manic intensity). With this setting you’d be surprised at how tame and mild the Church is represented in the film. I was also surprised by the magic realism element of the film which at times felt twee. With languid and beautifully shot scenes of the outback the film slowly and at times repetitively moved towards its climax. However when the climax comes it seems confused and tonally flat. There seems to be many ways to interpret the film: mine was the force of ‘assimilation’ and Christianity snuffing out the boys magic. Even this darker interpretation seems undercut by a very bland ending. Whatever the meaning of the ending the film get lost in the journey of its beautiful visuals, meandering between scenes that sometimes go nowhere. The film needed a night tighter edit and narrative structure. The acting all round is excellent and the director certainly has an eye for sweeping visuals, however I cannot help feeling disappointed in its overall structure, meaning and lack of emotional power. 7/10