I seldom approach films with the subtitle 'Based On A True Story' or 'Inspired By Real Events'. However, there was something about Justin Kurzel's debut Australian feature-length, based on the 1999 Barrel Murders of Snowtown, Adelaide wherein eight bodies were found dismembered in barrels. Snowtown is bleak, depressing and has a colour palette that blurs between faded candy coatings to dirty tapwater. The actors are sweaty and their hair greasy. But these aren't bad points, these are a gloriously rendered series images from Lucas Pittaway's introductory monologue as Jamie, right through to this hard story's bitter end. It branches from an ambiguous sexual abuse incident involving Jamie, his younger brothers and a male neighbour. While his mother Elizabeth (Louise Harris) is out on a date, the neighbour photographs the boys naked. Ambiguity hangs in the air during this scene, as any molestation is only hinted at when we see the neighbour sit down at the kitchen table naked in the aftermath.
The police do nothing to aid the family upon the discovery of this, so a strange friend named Barry (played effeminately and certainly memorably by relative unknown Richard Green) enlists the help of John, a man with a hatred towards homosexuals and paedophiles, who plans to drive out the boyfriend from Snowtown. Several harrassments later ("FAG" written on the windows and dismembered animal corpses strewn across the walls) and they celebrate the departure of the pederast. Jamie looks to John as something of a father figure as he becomes entranced by his preachings and teachings. His bemusement by John isn't faltered by his ineptitude to disobey or be his own man. John (a particularly notable turn by stage actor Daniel Henshall) and his beliefs soon spread to the surrounding neighbourhood, eventually leading to the disappearance of Barry evidenced by a panicked answerphone message stating of his leave to Queensland.
There are many darkly memorable scenes throughout Snowtown. One of note involves the rape of Jamie at the hands of his older brother Troy who takes a disliking to John. The other is when John catches wind of this and orders Jamie to execute a dog in front of him. These do make for unsettling, and certainly unwatchable moments. One is reminded of the potting shed scene in Scum for example. Behind John's friendly eyes is a definite cold air of something darker and more sinister as Barry's disappearance is fully comprehended. His accomplices live in a quiet fear of their leader, obeying his motives but weary of their actions' consequences if they say too much.
Jamie is confused but compliant, John brashly explains his motives with the only visible outcome to be to mould Jamie into a future accomplice. You will certainly see a Heath Ledger aura around young Pittaway as he delivers a tough performance that leaves a globus sensation. Kurzel has taken a relatively unknown story; one to the rest of the Western world at least, and put a fantastically terrifying turn on it. Slow-paced in part but tense throughout, if the film had been marketed here as it's alternative title The Snowtown Murders I probably would have brushed it off as little more than a small documentary film. However, this really is a haunting gem and one that makes the source material certainly more gut-wrenching to read through.
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