True History of The Kelly Gang Review

Ned Kelly is a controversial figure in Australia who lived a life of crime and died at the age of 25. His story has been adapted to screen numerous times with the latest version being based on a novel by Peter Carey.

True History of the Kelly Gang follows Ned Kelly both as a child and an adult, looking at his relationships with mentor figures, and women as he progresses to become the infamous Bushranger.

True History of the Kelly Gang was directed by Justin Kurzel. It was his first film since he dabbled with blockbuster filmmaking with Assassin’s Creed. That film was a critical and commercial flop so True History of the Kelly Gang was a return to his roots. Kurzel returns to his homeland, he makes a more artistic film, and he reteamed with Shaun Grant, the screenwriter of his first film.

True History of the Kelly Gang had a lot of pedigree. Kurzel is still a highly regarded filmmaker and it attracted an incredible cast. The cast included George McKay (1917), Russell Crowe, Essie Davis (The Babadook), Charlie Hunnam, Nicholas Hoult, and Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit). With a cast like the acting was of a high calibre with many of the characters playing who were reprehensible in some way.

Kurzel wanted to turn True History of The Kelly Gang into his version of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford by being an art-house western. True History of The Kelly Gang focused on what drove the outlaw and the film can be broken down into three key themes: parenthood, betrayal, and anti-authority. These themes sometimes overlapped. Despite the title, True History of the Kelly Gang was fictional and the film focused more on Ned and his family.

The film opens by looking at his relationship with his parents and how he was close to his mother (Essie Davis). Throughout the film, there was a focus on the lessons Ned’s mentor figures like his mother telling him to distrust authority, Harry Power (Russell Crowe) tells Ned a man needs to write their own story, and Constable Fitzpatrick (Nicholas Hoult) takes Ned under his wing. And all these characters betray Ned in some way.

Ned’s anti-authority feelings come from his Irish background. His mother hated the British so much that she dismisses an English woman who offered to pay for Ned’s education. The authorities constantly harass the Kellys which adds to these feelings. The first scene of Ned as an adult was him standing before a Union Jack with his back arched backward before he fought in a bare-knuckled boxing fight for some rich people. Anti-authority feeling and Irish nationalism fuelled support and membership of the Kelly Gang.

The film also showed the origins of Ned’s famous armour. It was done in two ways: the first was when the young Ned travelled with Harry Power to a remote tin-plated shack where they fired their guns at it. The other influence was Ironclad warships from the American Civil War.

True History of The Kelly Gang did have a striking look. The Kelly’s farmstead was a desolate place that was surrounded by barren trees and was on the edges of civilisation. When there was action like an ambush, Kurzel and his cinematographer shot it with extreme close-ups that focused on Ned’s face or shot from behind him. It was done to show these actions from Ned’s perspective. But most of the scenes that were set at night were almost impossible to see and there were some scenes that used slope lighting.

True History of The Kelly Gang had a basic narrative, so it avoids the trap that many art-house films suffer from. But Kurzel does have a distinctive style and it leads to True History of The Kelly Gang to have some of his worst traces. Scenes in the film were long and drawn out, making the film a chore to sit through. This was made worst by the film skipping over Ned’s crimes, therefore, the issue parts. In the film, it’s stated that Ned and his gang robbed banks, but it was never shown. The filmmakers seem to forget the basic rule of filmmaking: show, don’t tell. It seemed like the filmmakers didn’t want to show Ned in a bad light so avoided showing his crimes. At the end of the film, a character asks why does Australia idolises a criminal? He was the man I agreed with the most.

Kurzel did seem like he was trying to make True History of The Kelly Gang his version of A Clockwork Orange. Both films looked at anti-heroes who committed crimes and Kurzel did try to copy some stylistic choices. Ned narrates the film in an articulate manner, like Alexander Delarge. A Clockwork Orange famously had their characters dress in all-white costumes and there was a homoerotic subtext at times. Kurzel did his own version of this with many members of the Kelly Gang wearing dresses and when Ned and Fitzpatrick started to hang out with each other they were naked.

Kurzel hired his brother, Jed Kurzel, to compose the music and Jed gives True History of The Kelly Gang a droning, overwhelming score, as he did with Macbeth (2015). When Ned returns to his family home as an adult the film turns into a punk rock music video.

True History of The Kelly Gang was that had the talent and story potential behind it. But this film told its story in an uninteresting yet indulgent manner.