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  Film: Ned Kelly March 30, 2003 Reporter : Peter Thompson Peter's Verdict: Heath Ledger gives a magnificent performance as an iconic figure. Director:Gregor Jordan Genre: Drama Video: broadband  PETER THOMPSON: The Ned Kelly story is as rich and dramatic as you could wish and it has, of course, fired up successive generations of Australians. In our own troubled times, it's as relevant as ever to who we are. On the face of it, Kelly was a cop killer and a bank robber. But he was also a hero to thousands who hated the banks and saw the police as corrupt and oppressive. Thirty years after his death, politicians were still sufficiently concerned about his popularity to ban The Story of the Kelly Gang, often claimed to be the world's first feature film. But the legend refused to die and, to this day, Australians are still acutely concerned about the abuse of power and still sympathetic to Ned Kelly …Director Gregor Jordan has fashioned a world for his hero that's as dark and brooding as the story he's telling. Ned was born in Australia but his Irish father was transported here, like more than 40,000 of his countrymen and women. In their eyes, the British also exported the injustices of the Old World and there's a bitter divide between this Irish Catholic underclass and the largely English Protestant establishment. Ned is 16 when we meet him and even before the titles are finished, he's established as a strapping youth and a supremely confident horseman. But there's a tragic inevitability hanging over him and it comes as no surprise when he's unjustly accused of stealing the horse he's found in the bush. The Ned that steps out of Pentridge jail three years later is a hard man who still carries his head high.  On his return, Ned becomes the head of the family and he's quickly pulled into trouble when Constable Fitzpatrick makes unwelcome advances on his sister Kate.The steps that lead to Ned becoming a fugitive are short and steep but, given his fierce independence, the choices in front of him are few. INTERVIEW, GREGOR JORDAN: "I was always interested in bushrangers when I was a little kid. I lived up in the Blue Mountains in Sydney and there was something about these outlaws roaming the bush and robbing people that was very romantic for me as a young kid." PETER THOMPSON: Gregor Jordan brought a straightforward, fresh perspective to his 1999 feature Two Hands which gave Heath Ledger his first leading role. With its budget of more than $30 million, Ned Kelly is a major logistical exercise as well as a daunting creative challenge. GREGOR JORDAN: "When I first became involved in it I'd get a lot of people coming up to me and saying congratulations, it's going to be great, don't screw it up! And they'd look you dead in the eye and say, "do not screw this one up"! I guess it's been screwed up before. People wanted to see this story told well, they didn't want to go to the cinema and have a dud night out."  PETER THOMPSON: Based on Robert Drewe's excellent novel Our Sunshine, Jordan's film sticks closely to the historical record. This is a story painted on a broad canvas. But inevitably there are gaps and one is filled by the fictional character of Julia Cook, the wife of a wealthy landowner. Played by Naomi Watts, Julia helps to uncover Ned's softer side but also the morality of this world; her husband sees things in black and white.The tragic events at Stringybark Creek on October 26, 1878 lead directly to Ned and his gang of three — his brother Dan and their friends Joe Byrne and Steve Hart — being declared outlaws. This means they can be shot on sight by anyone. But Ned never sees himself simply as a fugitive. For two years he roams free, aided and supported by a sympathetic populace. GREGOR JORDAN: "The great thing about Australia is that we are cynical of anyone who is corrupt, greedy, who is in a position of power and is self-serving and doesn't look after the workers, I think that is the spirit that is in Australians and I think that spirit is embodied by a guy like Ned. He was a guy who wouldn't take any shit and he was someone who got picked on but was someone who wouldn't back down from a fight. And I think, I'm not saying a lot of Australians are like that but I think they wish they were like that. That's the kind of spirit they admire." PETER THOMPSON: Obviously, Jordan's biggest challenge was to find an actor who could fill Ned's boots and by a happy accident of timing, he found the perfect candidate in his old friend Heath Ledger.  GREGOR JORDAN: "The politics of film finance means that you have to have an actor who is going to put some bums on seats and justify that expenditure so that's how the system works. You have to have a movie star. Having said that, Ned Kelly was 25 when he died, he was a big guy, he was a heavyweight boxing champion, charismatic and Heath was just right for the role." PETER THOMPSON: Whatever else can be said about the film, there's no doubt about Heath Ledger's contribution. It's a magnificent performance because he builds on his physical presence to give Ned a passionate, driving determination. Fully aware of his place in history, he wants nothing less than social revolution. GREGOR JORDAN: "I think at the end of the day it's just an outrageous story with outrageous events and it's just a good yarn. The concept of a guy making a suit of armour for him and his mates and walking out in front of 200 policeman and having a gunfight is so audacious! It's just fascinating and I think it's the armour and the shootout at Glenrowan that's given him this iconic status that just fascinates so many Australians." PETER THOMPSON: I've been saying for a long time that Australian filmmaking is crippled by low budgets. The exceptions are few and notable: Babe, Moulin Rouge and one or two others. But without any internal changes, we've been blessed by a happy circumstance: Australian actors are enjoying extraordinary international currency. It's opened a window of opportunity that Ned Kelly has triumphantly jumped through. And it's allowed the film to be made on a scale that Australians, and audiences overseas, will see as entirely appropriate. |
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