Bad Blood and Bitterness: Colonisation and the Western in Warwick Thornton's 'Sweet Country'

Seven years since his inimitable tale of young love took one of the top prizes at Cannes, Warwick Thornton has once again roused audiences the world over – this time, with a spin on the western centring on an Aboriginal fugitive couple escaping ill-applied justice and the white colonists hot on their trail. Nicholas Godfrey investigates the influences, intertextual references and themes that infuse this film replete with political urgency.

Additional keywords:
genre, Indigenous, tracker, racism, Samson & Delilah, Bryan Brown, Sam Neill, Adelaide, South Australia.