Review: The Nightingale

Being a huge fan of period movies, the name "The Nightingale" and the fierce looking image on the poster was enough to get me interested in watching this one. Though I had an idea about what was coming my way for the next couple of hours, it exceeded my imagination in the most shocking and somehow in an edgy way. 

Clare is a convict and serving her period working as a servant for a British army unit camped in a British colony in Australia. She is expecting a letter to gain freedom for her family, with her husband Aidan and their little daughter. The due letter has to be gained from Lieutenant Hawkins who takes advantage of the situation to abuse Clare and refusing to let her leave. This leads to a confrontation between Aidan and Hawkins and puts Hawkins' promotion in jeopardy. What happens next is one of the most eerie visual representation of many brutalities in the movie which leaves Clare left with nothing but a fervor desire of vengeance.

Often, the movie gave me the feeling of a mixture between the 2018 film, Revenge and The Witch by Stephanie Zacharek. Much like the two above-mentioned movies, this movie is also a revelation for an young talented actress. Aisling Franciosi, who gave a true force of nature performance to carry the movie on her shoulders with admirable support from another revelation, Baykali Ganambarr, who plays the role of the guide, Billy, to Franciosi's Clare. Franciosi's performance reminded me very much of the performance by Florence Pugh in Lady Macbeth, though Pugh had a tight script to showcase her whole potential. That being said, despite the straggle towards the end of the movie, "The Nightingale" does provide you a different experience from the usual ones. Jennifer Kent has succeeded in that front and the cinematography by Radek Ladczuk was top notch.

To be fair, I do not think the violence in the movie was exaggerated as the opinions came out with the movie's release. Sometimes you have to leave it to the freedom of the creator to enact what they think as the best possible way to get it to the audience. The brutality of colonialism is something much more than what anyone could actually depict within the limits of cinematic frames. Yet if you ask me that if Jennifer Kent has succeeded in getting the whole essence of the plot to the viewers, then my answer would be just like my verdict on the movie. A loud yes but not loud enough.