Unfinished Sky

I'm a sucker for romance. No, I didn't give Legally Blonde a ten, but I'm pretty tragic: I watched Notting Hill three times.

That's what I thought I was getting this time. I was wrong.

I recorded this, and it was a few months until I got around to watching it.

It helps if you don't know that it's a remake: but by now, you do. Or of what... If you've seen the other movie, you can watch this one too: trust me, you have NOT seen it before! When I watched it, I didn't know it was a re-make; I didn't even know it was Australian. I take the point of the poster who said this is two stories compressed into the one movie: it is. He believes that's over-doing it. I respectfully disagree: in Australia, we often find the "one idea" Hollywood treatment of a story quite unsatisfying.

This movie had me in from the opening scenes. It's one of the few movies I wouldn't pause to take a phone call. That's my highest accolade, and this one earns it.

Notice the high ratings the Australian posters are giving it? That's not entirely because we like our own films. It's also because this has an authenticity that is utterly compelling, if you happen to speak Australian. If you do speak Australian, you will realise that the power of this story is in what is NOT said. Which tends to be the way rural Australians communicate! Outback Australia really is like this: particularly the north of the country.

Normally, I tend to avoid re-made films like the plague. I had no prior knowledge that 'Unfinished Sky' was a Australian re-make of a 1998 Dutch film entitled 'The Polish Bride',about two damaged souls being thrown together by chance. In this case, it's about a sheep farmer who finds a wounded Afghan woman on his property,who has escaped from a life most nasty (she was brought into the country as an illegal alien to work in the sex industry). Little by little, the lives of the two begin to come together,despite the fact that neither speak the others language. Despite this, they overcome the usual obstacles. The film does manage to gloss over some details about the woman (actually played by the same actress that played in the Dutch original),but does wear it's heart on it's sleeve,rather nicely. As this film has no U.S. distributor, it may be a bit of a find. Worth taking a look at (especially if you've seen the original version).

I spent a few years living in Australia and while improving my English, I developed a love of this country's cinematic tradition. This film has stuck in my mind ever since. While seeing it with foreign eyes probably helped, anyone that enjoys a good romance film will find something to like about it.

This film follows a widowed farmer that seems fairly happy living the life of on the land alone with only his faithful dog to keep him company. Enter one mysterious, scared and battered woman into his life and you have the makings of a good mystery romance.

The acting is excellent and while the plot is predictable, the mystery subplot was a bit under-cooked, its heartwarming where it needs to be and serious at the right time too.

This is a story about pure evil and men at their worst, but also a man who muddles through to what is right.

The refugee woman Tahmeena speaks almost no English at the beginning of the movie. Some of her backstory is explained through pictures and some the viewer can only guess at until the end. But since she shows up at the farm obviously the victim of some violence, the viewer can surmise that either she is herself a vicious criminal, which seems unlikely, or she has suffered a great deal.

There isn't much dialogue for half the movie because of the language barrier. Some of the story is told by quiet action. I won't say the story drags, but it develops slowly.

There are many sequences where the viewer sees flashes of action and there are quite a few dark scenes.

Finally the climax begins with John doing the famous good deed that can't go unpunished. The events that take place in the present and flash back to the past really dive into the sewer of human depravity.

The ending is hopeful but open ended.

Good slow build up and a good story. Really enjoyed the film but then it was too much of an abrupt ending where you had to guess really what would happen afterwards. But nevertheless well worth a watch.