Mystery Road (2013)

☆ ☆ ☆

Mystery Road (2013) – I. Sen

Aaron Pedersen plays an outback New South Wales detective named Jay Swan who faces racism and a community in crisis as the only Indigenous cop on the force.  When a young girl turns up murdered, his investigation (hamstrung by racism and a lack of interest from his sergeant) leads him to a drug ring.  Hugo Weaving plays the head of the drug squad, who may or may not be corrupt – he certainly seems dodgy (played with typical finesse by Weaving).  He also implies that Swan does not have his own house in order – he is estranged from his wife, now seemingly addicted to booze and pokies, and his teenage daughter may be involved in drugs and possible prostitution.  Needless to say, Pedersen plays the character as extremely tense and gruff.  I’m not sure he smiles at any point in the film.  The script infers that he is stuck in the middle, prosecuting people from his culture on behalf of the whitefellas in control – and some of the residents of the town, both black and white, treat him as a pariah.  It’s a lonely film noir-ish existence (albeit in a “western” setting). Although Pedersen and Weaving are solid, minor characters don’t always seem to have the same acting chops – and the screenplay spends too much time having actors deliver exposition, rather awkwardly. I confess I didn’t quite follow the final machinations of the plot (which may be the result of too little attention paid to some of the nondescript baddies).  Yet the cinematography looks great and some of the dusty outback locations are scenic (but would you want to live there?); some valuable glimpses (if not insights) into a suffering community are also on offer.  Later this spawned a sequel and then a TV mini-series, where it probably would fit best, since the cop drama is a tried and true genre on the small screen.