Ten years in development, the adaptation of Julia Leigh’s acclaimed debut novel of the same name finally hits the big screen.
First published in 1999, The Hunter reflected the environmental zeitgeist of the time – the logging industry of Tasmania and with it the destruction of vast unmapped forests, trees thousands of years old and a fragile ecosystem.
The island’s isolation had resulted in unique flora and fauna and landscapes unchanged for thousands of years. But with the population growth over the last 50 years and the economic development of the state, the environment has come under significant threat, leading to major protests and confrontations from the 1960s onwards. Tasmania is the birthplace of the Australian environmental movement and the rise of the Green Party as a political party.
But in her novel, Leigh goes one stage further than local concerns and explores the concept of multi-national interests – and in particular the symbolic storyline of a search for the believed extinct Tasmanian tiger.
The plot
The mysterious Martin David (Dafoe) is hired by a faceless multinational biotech company, Red Leaf, to hunt for the last Tasmanian tiger.
Believed to be extinct since the 1930s, a reported sighting in virtually unmapped territory in the wilds of the Florentine valley in southern Tasmania results in the company dispatching David to secure its valuable DNA. Only its DNA. Red Leaf has no interest in the rest of the (dead) creature other than its careful disposal.
With such a highly controversial task and arriving in an isolated region of the island already torn asunder by the logging industry at loggerheads with environmentalists, David’s cover is the study of Tasmanian Devils, carnivorous marsupials unique to the island and believed to be under threat of extinction.
Forced to stay at the hippy-haven home of Lucy Armstrong and her two children, David slowly becomes immersed in the politics of the local community and the impact development is having on one of the last untouched places on the globe. The innocence of the two children deeply affects the mercenary, both of whom hold on to the belief their missing father will return – a man who disappeared in the wilderness 12 months earlier.
But as David becomes closer to the Armstrong family and questions the mysterious disappearance of husband and father, so Red Leaf dispatches a second mercenary.
An environmental tale
The search for the last remaining Tasmanian tiger (more wolf than tiger but so named due to the stripes on its back) may be fictional, but The Hunter is nevertheless symbolic of the potential destruction of the delicate balance between man and nature.
Dafoe is wholly convincing as the mercenary hunter, a survivor in the wilds of the landscape and inclement weather of heavy rains, snow and thick fogs.
Craggy, quiet, deeply etched character lines, hauntingly pensive – words describing both Willem Dafoe and the Tasmanian landscape. The Hunter is a paean to the island and the untouched beauty of deep forests, soaring ravines, open skies and the delicate and unique ecosystem. And as a result the island looks stunning as nature becomes a central character of Daniel Nettheim’s labour of love.
It’s a film that unfolds slowly, layer by layer as David becomes more and more aware of the impact he could have should he be successful in tracking the last surviving tiger. But he also recognises what will happen if he is not successful.
It is the voice of the children – the voice of the future – that is the reasoned hope and the film’s denouement is made the more tragic because of it.
Personal rating: 3.5 stars
The Hunter
- Directed by Daniel Nettheim (Rush, Snake Tales - both TV)
- Written by Wain Fimeri (Charles Bean’s Great, Love Letters from a War – both documentaries), Alice Addison (The Silence, My Placeash; both TV)
- Produced by Vincent Sheen (Prime Mover, Little Fish)
- Starring Willem Dafoe (The Last Temptation of Christ, Spider-Man), Sam Neill (Jurassic Park, The Piano), Frances O’Connor (Blessed, A.I. Artificial InteIligence)
Keith Lawrence - Published writer of articles in magazines, newspapers and websites, predominantly on culture, alongside ghostwriter/editor/copywriter.
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