The Broken Shore

Slow burner and better than most Netflix produced drama. Worth a watch.

This film is based on the novel of the same name by Peter Temple and to all accounts this production does do the book justice. Set in a rural coastal town that seems to be off everyone's radar - we meet detective Joe Cashin (played perfectly by Don Hany) . He used to be a big time homicide detective in the city; but after a life changing incident he has retreated to this backwater.

Then the sleepy town gets very shaken up when one of the local grandees is murdered. This is a man with connections - and apparently no enemies. As Detective Cashin starts to investigate he starts to uncover a story of complicit lies told over decades, police corruption and racism from both sides of the divide. He also has a new neighbour a new handyman and an Aboriginal cousin who is not the most reliable of relations. As the past is uncovered the tension mounts and this will have you transfixed.

This was a complete punt for me; I just stumbled across it on line and streamed it. It was part financed by Screen Australia and the cast are not that well known outside of Australia, but if the evidence of this is anything to go by, then we should be seeing a lot more of them. It has the tension, the humour and realism all perfectly balanced. An absolute gem and one that starts off brilliant and then just gets better - absolutely recommended.

This movie to my mind is just perfectly made.. a couple of stilted actors in bit parts but that is such a small issue. Its easy to fall into this film and never want to leave. The characters are great, well formed, the dialogue is sparse and interesting, the filming is top notch - to me its the best look i've seen in any modern TV from Asutralia. I really hope to see more like this.

There's undercurrents both metaphorical and literal. There's the everyday but interesting police business. There's bad and good cops. There's old and new crimes, histories in each character. This film has it all.

There's the odd cliché but it flies past and the chunks are joined expertly.

Its a bit of a shame this was made for TV, cos I imagine it won't be eligible for the awards it should get.

And here we go again. A completely over-baked, slow production from an over-baked, slow book.

A lead character we are supposed to sympathise with, as he plods around oppressing people's rights and basically being a useless jerk-off.

Side characters we are utterly unable to care about.

A completely inaccurately portrayed police force, with logic-holes all over the place.

Dreadful, idiotic flashbacks.

And then a dreadful, idiotic main arc.

Stop it! Just STOP it! Make something good for once!

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As previously written, "The one thing I will say about The Broken Shore is . . . that it would have been good if it was made into a 6x1 hour mini series".

I agree totally.

This is a well paced, interesting movie which discloses much about Australian culture (which only an Australian could certify as true) set in a sometimes bleak but more often beautiful setting.

The pace reminded me of a Morse episode, but with a younger, excellent actor Don Hany.

The story appears to head toward a familiar ending. However, the ending is more satisfying than expected.

The movie begs for a sequel.