FILM
THE NEW BOY
CATE BLANCHETT RETURNS TO OZ
Pitch perfect — Cate Blanchett
★★★
OUT 15 MARCH / CERT 15 / 96 MINS
DIRECTOR Warwick Thornton
CAST Cate Blanchett, Aswan Reid, Deborah Mailman, Wayne Blair
PLOT Australia, the 1940s. A boy (Reid) is taken from the Outback to live in a Catholic oprhanage — where his healing powers shock Sister Eileen (Blanchett).
AS AN AUSTRALIAN Aboriginal child, Warwick Thornton was sent to a Christian boarding school, run by monks and nuns. That formative experience inspired The New Boy, the filmmaker’s seventh feature —but don’t expect a straightforward slice of direct autobiography. It is a curious confection, with a tone that flits between a serious study of colonialism and religion, and something more fantastical or supernatural. It even has an unexpected Weekend At Bernie’s-esque subplot. And it isn’t the sort of film to leave you with easy answers.