It's 1825; Van Diemen's Land (modern-day Tasmania). Irishwoman Clare Carroll (Aisling Franciosi) works as a servant for the local colonial forces whose leader, Lieutenant Hawkins (Sam Claflin), forces her to sing for him, which she reluctantly does. Then, after Clare rejects his unwanted sexual advances, he forcibly rapes her, after which, having now intercepted her fleeing husband Aiden (Michael Sheasby) and their newborn daughter, Hawkins murders these two and has his forces gang-rape Clare, knocking her unconscious. When she wakes the next morning and can garner no help from the authorities, Clare meets and recruits young Aboriginal tracker Billy (Baykali Ganambarr), who's suffered himself at the barrells of the white forces' guns. Clare and Billy initially dislike and distrust each other, but slowly learn how much they have in common as they travel across some picturesque but dark and threatening countryside to settle the score with Hawkins and his cohorts.
The Nightingale is writer-director Jennifer Kent's stunning follow-up to the sensational 2014 horror The Babadook but if you enjoyed that one, heed my advice: do not go into this one expecting a rehash of that. This marks such a shift from that for Kent that it's hard to believe they're from the same filmmaker. And if you're like me, this one will test your patience. However, stick with it and your patience will be rewarded, I promise you. Somewhat like a more violent version of The Piano set in colonial Australia, The Nightingale is a slow, aloof but increasingly brutal and ultimately very moving study of what life in early Australia may have been like for those at the bottom of its pit. Franciosi is an astonishing discovery, filling Clare with a ferocious authority and magnetism and a heartbreaking desperation and grief. Ganambarr is another strikingly effective new face, and he gives an earthy backbone to what could otherwise have been just an indigenous sidekick role. Claflin makes an adequately menacing villain filled with misogyny and racism, and Damon Herriman once again proves his dramatic mettle as Hawkins' boorish sergeant Ruse.
Not to be outdone, the set and costume design (two critical ingredients for any period piece) are sumptuous, Jed Kurzel's music fits the setting and themes all like a glove, and Radek Ladczuk's cinematography captures the natural Tasmanian landscapes in all their almost Gothic beauty. It's easy for me to see why The Nightingale won six 2018 AACTA Awards, including Best Film.
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