The New Boy (Bonus Review)

[00:00:01] It's a mini, it's a mini, Oubliette Minisodes Hello and welcome to this special bonus episode where we'll be reviewing a new film. How are you Dan? Yes, yeah I'm very well and you Conrad? Yeah, very good. Very excited to be given an opportunity to review a film before it's been released digitally and in theatres.

[00:00:29] Yeah. Or at least in the US. I think it's been released in Australia hasn't it? Yeah, I think technically the film is from 2023 I believe. So this is The New Boy. It's a film starring Cate Blanchett and Aswan Reid in the two lead roles and it's about a First Nations child arriving in the dead of night at a remote monastery run by a renegade nun

[00:00:58] in Cate Blanchett in 1940s Australia and he has some special abilities that of course come into conflict or at least cause a crisis of faith for our nun because obviously special abilities don't quite fit into Christianity generally as a rule. No.

[00:01:20] So it's a period piece, it's a story about colonialism, it's a story about war, it's an orphanage at the fringes of society in the Australian outback. Had you heard of Warwick Thornton? I have heard of Warwick Thornton before. Regrettably I have not seen any of his films. No, me neither. I know that he did direct Samson and Delilah which is quite a renowned Australian film.

[00:01:50] But yes, sorry, I have not seen any of his other films. No, me neither. It's bad isn't it? But I'm intrigued to do so now because it's certainly a beautiful film, this one. I mean it makes the most of its setting and Warwick is, as well as being the writer and the director, he's also the director of photography. Right, yes, yes, yes. I mean the cinematography is stunning.

[00:02:15] Like it's kind of, I don't know, I find Australian films, there are only a limited amount of locations that Australia seems to have in its vast country that it is. It's either outback bush, like crocodile infested jungle, or it's desert. Yeah.

[00:02:41] This one goes for middle of nowhere desert, although there are crops, so it's not completely barren. It's not just sand and nothing else. But it is like middle of nowhere. It's very isolated. And the whole film has a sense of complete isolation. And I mean, to do with the cinematography and the location, but also I found the sound as well

[00:03:10] made it feel very isolated. There's not a lot of score in the film. There's a lot of sound design, but very quiet. There's just nothing around. There's barely any wildlife apart from some snakes. Some snakes, yes. Yeah. It's set in the time where, I mean, Australia wasn't really that inhabited. The closest town seems to be miles and miles away.

[00:03:39] So is it set in the 30s and 40s? I couldn't quite figure it out. Yeah. There's a reference to the war. So it is during the 1940s. Right. It reminded me a lot of The Devil's Backbone, the Guillermo del Toro movie. You know, an orphanage of children in the middle of the desert, in the middle of nowhere, trying to keep away from the war that's constantly hovering on the horizon.

[00:04:03] And what I love about it is the setup is instantly filled with tension because clearly there should be a father that is in charge of this flock of nuns. Well, there's only two of them. But there should be a male authority figure there, Don Peter.

[00:04:22] But it emerges in the first act of the movie that he is no longer with us and that sister Eileen is committing a bit of a subterfuge by responding to letters from the authorities, pretending to be him and sort of surreptitiously keeping him alive so that she can maintain the status quo and protect this little community that she's created, this little bubble in the middle of nowhere.

[00:04:52] But you get the sense that, you know, this idyll is constantly under threat. Yeah, yeah. So they get a delivery and she has to pretend that Don Peter is unwell and unfit to come and sign the delivery form. So she puts on this act. It's quite funny.

[00:05:14] There's quite a lot of sort of humor in this movie because for the most part, it feels not bleak as such, but a little bit melancholic. Yeah, it is. Yeah, it's a very pensive film, very quiet, very subdued. And despite being only 90 minutes long, it seems to go at a very methodical pace.

[00:05:37] Oh, I did find that the pacing is, there's not a lot of ebbs and flows to this kind of story that unfolds. It's quite, it's not a plateau as such, but it's quite a sort of slow climb. Yeah. And it is a bit of a slow burn movie. I mean, you have the character of the new boy who doesn't get a name until towards the end of the movie.

[00:06:03] And he doesn't talk for most of the movie. He barely utters like maybe four words in the entire film. And that's quite interesting to watch as this character because his character, he's an Aboriginal boy. He doesn't speak English whatsoever. So he can't, he can't talk. He can't communicate with anyone. He just has to use his actions or what he thinks is the right choice in certain situations.

[00:06:32] And it's quite interesting to watch this character that is completely, he's not mute. It's not like he has no ability to talk, but he just chooses not to because he can't understand the language, I guess. And then you have, it was interesting as well because you have Kate Blanchett's character, sister Eileen, is that her name? Yeah. And she, yes, she's a bit of a rebel, but she isn't what I expected a nun to be like. No.

[00:07:02] She's not very strict at all. I expected this, you know, hard as nails, tough, strict, play by the rules nun. And she isn't. She kind of lets the new boy just do his thing. Yeah. Which is kind of surprising. Yeah, it's quite sweet, isn't it? She doesn't try and enforce the structure of their society on him.

[00:07:28] So he's just allowed to, like, he just wanders out of her church during the middle of a service. And she doesn't reprimand him or make an example of him. She doesn't do anything that he, frankly, he wouldn't have understood and would have just been brutal and unnecessary.

[00:07:42] She just lets him watch, lets him learn, and lets him slowly join in and slowly assimilate into the group, which is an interestingly empathetic and gentle form of indoctrination. She doesn't seem to be wanting to crack the whip.

[00:08:03] And you get the sense that that's because the two nuns suffered under the hands of Don Peter, who you get hints that he was abusive towards them, certainly verbally, if not physically. So I think they are holding on to this piece and trying to be more humane and more accepting. Sure, sure, sure. Because you have some of the other supporting characters. So you have the other nun, sister. Sister mum, yeah.

[00:08:33] Yeah, sister mum. Yeah, that's right. They explain it, like, because it's an orphanage, so no one has a mum. So she's the mum. Yeah, she is. Of the orphanage. And she takes care of all the meals and sort of extra duties. And then there is another character, a male character, who is just, I guess, almost like a caretaker of the monastery. Yes, George, played by Wayne Blair. That's right, that's right.

[00:08:59] So it's a very small sort of collection of characters. I mean, obviously you have the orphans as well, the boys. But for the most part, they get into a bit of mischief, but they're not that naughty. No. I expected more of a coming-of-age story, which it is, but it isn't as well.

[00:09:22] Like, yeah, everyone kind of just stays in line, even though there's not much strict regime involved. A little bit, but it's not too, I don't know. It's not what I expected. That's what I... No. Yeah. No. Well, it's all part of the... So the church is participating in the colonialization of the First Nations people.

[00:09:47] So I believe the children are taken away from their parents and put into these orphanages and taught how to read and write and brought up into Christianity and then sent off to work. And there's a moment where one of the members of the orphanage comes of age, so to speak, although it looks terribly young. And they pack him off with a blessing after being baptized in a suitcase. And then another boy takes over as head boy.

[00:10:14] And he challenges the new boy because he sees his lack of interest in standing in the queue at the right place and so on as a challenge to his authority. So he tries to challenge him, but that doesn't go terribly well. No, no, no. I mean, we have to... We do have to really talk about one of the key parts of this movie. So you did mention these Aboriginal boys or kids are getting stolen from their families.

[00:10:42] This was known as the Stolen Generation, which is a horrific part of Australian history where they tried to sort of breed out Indigenous people. So they took all these children and put them in white colonial families.

[00:11:04] And they were raised to be white and Christian and sort of, yeah, that sort of colonial perfect citizen of Australia because back then they wanted it to be all white. And it was just a horrific time and it still had, still got repercussions to this day of Indigenous communities being torn apart and missing relatives.

[00:11:33] And yeah, the government did say sorry about it a few years back. And that was very recent as well. That was like in the last 10 years, kind of saying sorry about all of that happening. Because it was horrific. Like in the church and the government were involved in this. This wasn't just like some sort of undercover racist thing with vigilantes or anything.

[00:12:03] This was like a government, I don't know, lead, just terrible part of Australian history. And yeah, it's something that hasn't really been addressed properly. I mean, it has, but it hasn't. It's still just a terrible stain on Australian history.

[00:12:28] And this movie kind of tries to tell that story, but with a sort of supernatural genre twist to it, which is quite interesting. Yeah, it's fascinating because the way it does it evokes one of the tropes that was, I think, popularized by Spike Lee, identified it as the magical Negro,

[00:12:53] which is this sense of Indigenous people being magical, innocent, closer to nature, having some sort of spirituality and some special ability that, you know, civilized, quote unquote, white people don't have access to. And these characters often turned up in Hollywood films, usually to enable the white hero's story in some way. And they didn't have a story of their own.

[00:13:22] But this film takes that trope and uses it as a story about spiritual colonization in a way. It's sort of a war between this innate spirituality that the new boy has and the structured religion that Sister Eileen is trying desperately to fit him into. Because it doesn't fit. And she struggles with that. And that's where the tension arises.

[00:13:51] And how the film tells that story and concludes that story is quite poignant, but yet it's very understated. Yeah. I mean, can we mention the sort of super natural abilities? We can, yeah. Is that in the trailer? It quite possibly will be. I mean, certainly, if you think of the character of John Coffey in the Green Mile, for example. That's what I thought of. Yeah. Yeah. It's along those lines. Yeah.

[00:14:20] And I mean, it is a metaphor as well. I mean, it's almost like the soul of the First Nations people is what it represents. And so as the film progresses, it's, yeah. I don't want to give any spoilers away. No. No, me neither.

[00:14:39] But it is very poignant the way that it is visually depicted and the way that you see the interaction between that culture and the white colonial culture. Exactly. What impact that has. See, it's a very lyrical film. It's visually stunning and fascinating. I mean, one aspect I did really love, and there isn't a lot of score, but I did love the score. So it was done by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.

[00:15:09] And Nick Cave is, you know, he's like a national treasure of Australia. He's incredible. But Warren Ellis, he's one of the members of the Dirty Three. Do you know the Dirty Three? No. They're incredible. Incredible. I think they are a three brief. But they just do instrumental music. Oh, okay. But they incorporate strings, guitars.

[00:15:37] It's very sort of slow, but atmospheric. And that's exactly what the score was like in this movie. It does use a lot of strings, violins, but it almost felt like, to me, it almost felt like period chamber music in parts. Like, it didn't feel like a modern, lush, over-the-top Hollywood score. It felt kind of condensed down.

[00:16:06] And then, I mean, I'm not sure, but it sounds like bowed guitar. I'm not sure. But there's some sort of instrument that's being bowed that doesn't sound like a violin or a cello. So it sounds much more sort of gritty and darker. It does, yeah. The film does warrant slightly bigger music towards the end, but it never gets that large.

[00:16:34] It's not a huge ensemble that you're suddenly faced with in the finale. Right, yeah. Yeah. No, it's great music. I think Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have collaborated before, haven't they? I think so, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and a number of scores. That's great. I loved it. I loved it. So would you recommend The New Boy? I think it has a lot going for it. I think the themes especially, like, very, very powerful.

[00:17:02] And it's great to see something like this, which was a terrible thing that happened in Australian history, being depicted on screen in a more, I guess, digestible way, since it's got, you know, genre elements. It's not just a drama. It is mostly a drama, but there are some sort of magical parts of it.

[00:17:30] There is one part of it that was very weird. I found very weird. I don't want to spoil it, but yeah. It involves something that shouldn't be alive. Moving. And it was a bit unnerving for me. Anyway, I don't know. I think it's a pretty solid film. It is quite a slow burn.

[00:17:58] It's nothing theatrically over the top or anything. I kind of wanted a bigger climax, to be honest. I wanted, it was kind of slow burning and building to something that kind of didn't happen. And then the ending was, yeah, not what I expected. And a little bit, bit of a downer. Not to spoil it for me.

[00:18:28] Yeah. I love the setting. I love all the sort of elements of the film. The score, the sound design. Cate Blanchett's character is really interesting. It's not something I've really seen her do before. No. Sporting Castle is great. The main boy that plays the new boy, hang on, what's his name? Aswan Reid. Fantastic. I mean, he's got no lines, basically, for the whole film, but he still carries it.

[00:18:58] Yeah, it's impressive. And it was, it's such a nice sort of snapshot of Australian history as well, in terms of just basic things. It was like, they treat his nits, he has like hair lice or whatever, with sheep treatment. Yeah, sheep dip. They, you know, treat a sheep. And that's just like, that's what you did back then. You know, you don't have anything.

[00:19:25] I also noticed there's one scene where Bex powders was used to treat some, as a painkiller. And I looked it up and it's been banned because it had a chemical called phenocetin or phenocetin, which causes kidney disease. So, yeah.

[00:19:55] I think it was back then. We're not good for you. Wow. Okay. Yeah. No, I would agree. I found it fascinating just because it gave me exposure into a time period and a location and an experience that I have known very little about. So it forced me to read up on it and to learn more, which is great. It is very understated. It's not exactly an emotional roller coaster.

[00:20:24] It's much more of a slow burn and quite, as you say, a downbeat, melancholy one. I did enjoy it. I do think it's a great piece of work. But I would only recommend it for somebody who is up for that, who has the patience and the time and wants to sort of be absorbed in the atmosphere of a slow burn piece of history with some genre elements. But, yeah. But, yeah.

[00:20:54] Carry this ain't. Yeah. Yeah. It just, the third act for me just wasn't quite, didn't quite make it. It just wasn't, it didn't pull it off to me. It felt a bit of a, oh, that was it. That's the end. Yeah. Yeah. There are several things that are introduced at the beginning that I was expecting to pay off in some way and they didn't. So, yeah. I was disappointed. But it is a beautiful film.

[00:21:25] It is. And very impressive piece of work from Aswan Reid and Cate Blanchett, who, of course, is always fabulous. Yeah. I mean, I do really want to watch more Warwick Thornton movies because I feel like I've let down. I mean, I'm not Australian, but I feel like I've let down Australia for being, you know, I've lived here for so long. I know you're a citizen now. I would have thought they would have tested you on this. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So, I do want to seek out more of his films.

[00:21:54] Yeah, I definitely will. If this is anything to go by, clearly an incredibly talented filmmaker. Okay. Well, we hope you enjoyed this special bonus episode where we review a new film. It's out this week on digital and in theatres. If you are interested in that synopsis, check it out. Yeah. Check out the new boy.

[00:22:19] New Sons.