The Hunter (2011)

Directed by: Daniel Nettheim | 102 minutes | adventure, drama | Actors: Willem Dafoe, Frances O’Connor, Sam Neill, Morgana Davies, Finn Woodlock, Jacek Koman, Callan Mulvey, John Brumpton, Dan Wyllie, Sullivan Stapleton, Jamie Timony, Dan Spielman, Maia Thomas, Marc Watson-Paul

Martin David, an independent, professional and headstrong hunter, is sent by the mysterious biotech company Red Leaf to the Australian island of Tasmania to track down the last Tasmanian tiger (a presumed extinct and actually extinct predatory marsupial). Obtaining genetic material from this extinct species could provide the company with spectacular research opportunities and astronomical profits. To keep the top-secret contents of his mission from the curious and hostile locals, Martin poses as a researcher studying Tasmanian devils for an American university. He is staying at the house of Lucy Armstrong and her two children, whose husband/father Jarrah has been missing for a long time. Although Martin initially traveled to the Tasmanian wilderness with a purely business purpose, his life becomes increasingly intertwined with that of the people he lives with. But a ruthless multinational such as Red Leaf obviously doesn’t like Martin’s suddenly budding humanity and wants to see concrete results…

‘The Hunter’ is based on Julia Leigh’s novel of the same name and, at first glance, seems to be mainly a quietly constructed adventure film. While that element returns sporadically, “The Hunter” is ultimately much more of an existential drama than a classic adventure film. Of course, main character Martin David is a purebred adventurer who can spend days alone in the wilderness and is experienced in catching and hunting animals, using both modern weapons and snare traps that have been in circulation for centuries. But in addition, the hunter is also a lonely person, a man who, due to the individualistic, volatile nature of his work and closed nature, has never actually managed to establish meaningful relationships with his fellow human beings. From this background, the Tasmanian wilderness also gradually becomes a metaphor for Martin David’s character: vast, serene, ferocious and indomitable, but also apparently empty and not devoid of a certain melancholy disposition. What begins as the chilly hunt for a nearly extinct species gradually changes into the spiritual journey of a lonely drifter who slowly but surely becomes attached to the warm family that shelters him during his expedition. The complications towards the end of the film are also all the more tragic, which are crowned with a final chord that is as fatalistic as it is sad, which sheds a rather mixed and not entirely positive light on man and his relationship with nature. In a sense, the quest for ultimate profit becomes a quest for the essence of life, a core value that is in many ways undermined and destroyed by the destructive dark side of technological progress and big business. Due to the philosophical and personal undertone of the story, things like the build-up of tension or a treatise on the moral objections to hunting are sometimes pushed too far into the background. The slow pace of the film may also be a bit off for some people. On the other hand, that way you really experience the story through the eyes of the main character; Like Martin, you’re constantly on the lookout for imminent danger, but you’re also distracted by the beautiful and timeless images of the trees, water and hills of the beautiful Tasmanian wilderness.

Overall, ‘The Hunter’ is certainly an interesting film. As usual, Willem Dafoe is in his element when he has to shape a complex character tormented by doubt and inner demons. In a restrained way he succeeds very well in credibly bringing the lonely, doubtful and complex figure of Martin David into the limelight. Also Frances O’Connor and Sam Neill, as the sensitive Lucy and the wolf in sheep’s clothing Jack, respectively, deliver solid performances in the main supporting roles. ‘The Hunter’ is a beautiful character film, which after a somewhat slow start eventually digs a lot deeper than you would initially expect. Definitely recommended for fans of modest ‘acting films’.