In a Savage Land (1999)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Bill Bennett

Writers:

Bill Bennett (writer)
Jennifer Cluff (writer)

Release Date:

21 October 1999 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

In the tradition of Out of Africa.

Plot:

Two anthropologists married to each other go to an island off of Papua New Guinea for field research in pre-World War II.

Plot Keywords:

Female Nudity | Suicide | Native | Anthropology

Awards:

7 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Rufus Sewell	...	Mick Carpenter
Martin Donovan	...	Dr. Phillip Spence
Maya Stange	...	Evelyn Spence
Max Cullen	...	Douglas Stevens
John Howard	...	Rev Macgregor
Andrew S. Gilbert	...	Gerry
Marshall Napier	...	Sir Geoffrey Hallerton
Susan Lyons	...	Helen Stevens
Don Barker	...	Barman

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | USA:Not Rated | Australia:MA | Spain:T

Filming Locations:

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Company:

Hollywood Partners

Quotes:

[first lines]
Evelyn Spence: I once met a man, not my husband, another man. He looked back on a life. What would you carry into the darkness? For me, I'll take the smell of a pearl shell, freshly opened, one day on a beach.

An epic beyond any other

Bill Bennet's really come of age as a film maker with this masterful epic. Top notch performances from Sewell and Donovan are shadowed by the stunning Strange.

Maya Strange may be unknown to viewers outside Australia, but through small roles in such films as 'Head On' and "McLeod's Daughters" we down in Oz have watched and waited to see her in a role which does justice to her talent. At only 24, she not only carries her own alongside Donovan and Sewell - but also carries the film itself, appearing in almost every scene.

The script by Bennet and his wife Jennifer is layered and complex. The photography, by first time DOP Danny Ruhlmann, is exquisite.