In 1893, heavily pregnant Molly Johnson and her children struggle in isolation to survive the harsh Australian landscape after her husband left to go droving sheep in the high country. One day, she finds a shackled Aboriginal fugitive named Yakada wounded on her property. As an unlikely bond begins to form between them he reveals secrets about her true identity. Realizing Molly’s husband is actually missing, new town lawman Nate Clintoff starts being suspicious and sends his constable to investigate.
Acting
Leah Purcell's controlled fury could stop your heart.
Direction
Purcell's debut adapts her own play with unflinching precision.
Cinematography
Snowy Mountains as beautiful, unforgiving antagonist.
Director
Leah Purcell
Leah Purcell
Molly Johnson
Rob Collins
Yakada
Sam Reid
Nate Clintoff
Jessica De Gouw
Louisa
Benedict Hardie
Trooper Spencer Leslie
Harry Greenwood
John MaPharlen
Nicholas Hope
Judge Eisenmangher
Maggie Dence
Mrs. Shirley McGuiness
Bruce Spence
Father McGuiness
Victoria Haralabidou
Elpida Savva
Tammy Macintosh
Marti Murray
Magnolia Maymuru
Molly
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Purcell reclaims Henry Lawson's 1892 short story, centering the Indigenous and female experiences Lawson erased. The original barely named Molly.
The film's 1893 setting deliberately precedes Federation, when colonial violence operated with even less bureaucratic pretense of justice.
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