Dark and sober Lucky Country is not pretty. There is a body count here and the violence when it comes, is swift and ugly. Still, for all of its bloodshed and its mordant tone of last options (all bad) it is also really quite thrilling.

In Lucky Country the land is savaged by greed, and overrun by technological progress (the coming of the railway), meanwhile pioneers are forgotten, the bonds of family and loyalty tested and corrupted.

Lucky Country demonstrates Director Kriv Stenders gifts: a skill with atmosphere and a talent for eliciting lived-in performances. With Lucky Country he proves he can handle the knotty twists and curves of a genuine thriller and deliver them in a way that’s both scary and original.

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Immersive in its mood of early Australian bush life, Lucky Country is a fable of this land as well as a story in which the best instincts of mankind barely survive the ravages of fate, nature and humanity itself. Muscular and poetic all at once, this is an intense drama which pits pride and greed against hope and despair – and is proud of the irony and ambiguity reflected in the title.

Lucky Country is driven by a purpose and is superbly executed.

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“There is something intensely Australian about this film, it’s as if it’s seeking to penetrate some essence of where we’ve come from and who we are. Andy Cox’s screenplay is both poetic and dramatic.

This film made such a strong connection with me, I responded to it emotionally, intellectually, and I was incredibly moved by it.”

Clearly hungry for a broader canvas, director Kriv Stenders now takes on the unfamiliar world of early twentieth century Australia, but his keen eye for savagely real characterisations and men in crises remains unblemished. Aden Young (in a haunting performance sure to re-establish his big screen credentials) is Nat, a father with a young family, dislocated physically and spiritually in the outback, who is swooped upon from all sides after rumours of gold begin to swirl around his log cabin. Young Toby Wallace, as Nat’s son Tom, becomes the backbone of the film, and it’s a sterling, remarkably mature performance which glues the ensemble together.

Lucky Country is a downright bizarre, blood-smeared opus that provides yet more evidence of a real-deal auteur at work on our shores.

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Director Kriv Stenders (whose Boxing Day, Blacktown and The Illustrated Family Doctor deserved bigger audiences) tackles the heat-soaked harshness of this Great Southern Land with similarly unsettling realism in this creepy psychological drama.

Not since The Proposition has there been a period drama that so vividly depicts the hell of settlement with such menace.

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A psychological western set during Australia’s formative years, Lucky Country explores the brutality of man when lured by the temptation of greed.

While recent Australian films have taken advantage of the sprawling landscapes which make the outback, director Kriv Stenders stays away from picturesque scenery and opts for the dense bushland as his backdrop: uncompromising, large and consuming, swallowing its inhabitants whole. It is there where we find a family torn apart and living only on the faith that God will deliver them from their affliction.

Stalkingly building up the tension to a fever pitch, Stenders unleashes hell when a closely guarded secret is uncovered, pitting child against parent; friend against friend. And just as Paul Thomas Anderson promised that There Will Be Blood, so too does Stenders deliver on the bloodshed as the dread of murder and rape haunts every dimly lit frame, proving that the depths mankind will succumb to for the attainment of wealth is the most tragic sin of all.

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“It’s true that history dictates certain elements of the film (such as costumes), but its exploration of both the human condition and the impenetrable landscape are timeless; people are still greedy and the Australian landscape is still dauntingly fruitless.”

A comment like that really taps into what director Kriv Stenders has himself said about the film. “To me it’s what all great stories are – reflections on our time now, the time we live in now…”

You can hear more of what Kriv had to say, and see some great behind the scenes action in our Lucky Country featurette.

“Nat’s severe pain over his wife’s death is well executed by Aden Young, and his decline into psychosis is eerily similar to that seen in The Shining. Toby Wallace is outstanding as the innocent yet knowing Tom, and Sarah and Carver’s brittle encounters are superbly nuanced with strong sexual tension and fear.”

Dungog Film Festival premiered Lucky Country in May. The festival attracts over 6,000 film fanatics. The above clips are two fans first thoughts on the Kriv’s film.