Down Under Desperado: 'The Legend of Ben Hall' and the Bushranger Film

Australia has long lionised the figure of the bushranger – and, expectedly, so has its film industry, with the subgenre dating as far back as the early 1900s. Unlike its predecessors, however, Matthew Holmes' The Legend of Ben Hall focuses attention not just on the antihero's seditious exploits, but also the personal hardships that perhaps led the titular outlaw to the law-breaking life, writes Brian McFarlane.

Additional keywords:
mythology, genre, Ned Kelly, Captain Starlight, The Story of the Kelly Gang, Robbery Under Arms, Mad Dog Morgan.