'The New Boy' Review: An Aboriginal Orphan Contests Christianity in the Latest From One of Australia’s Greatest Filmmakers
Courtesy of TIFF.
From 2009's Samson and Delilah to Sweet Country in 2017, Aboriginal filmmaker Warwick Thornton has become established as an inventive creator able to simultaneously celebrate his home country of Australia and censure its colonial past. His latest work, the Cannes-premiering The New Boy, closely follows in the footsteps of Thornton's oeuvre, centering around an unnamed Aboriginal boy, played by dazzling newcomer Aswan Reid, who is kidnapped from his Outback oasis by government authorities and relocated to a Catholic monastery for orphaned children in the 1940s. As the "New Boy" settles into the routines and rituals of life at the monastery –– guided by a head nun desperately trying to maintain the balance of their Christian sanctuary –– the otherness of his presence and spirituality begins to bleed into his surroundings, contesting the rigidity and unwavering faith of the monastery's inhabitants. Posing nuanced elucidations into Christianity's tight-gripped influence over the colonialization of Australia and its everlasting effects on Indigeneity, The New Boy is an intricately challenging visionary tale.
The New Boy opens with its eponymous character being pursued by the police through the Australian outback, a casualty of the Stolen Generation, the100-plus-year stain in the country's history when Aboriginal children were relocated from their blood relatives to be adopted by white families or placed in governmental or religious institutions. Taken to an orphanage at a Catholic monastery in the remote rural farmlands, the boy quickly reveals a soft spot in the heart of the abbey's high-spirited and devout leader, Sister Eileen, played by Cate Blanchett. With the help of a sullen handyman called George (Wayne Blair) and fellow woman of the cloth Sister Mum (Deborah Mailman), Sister Eileen runs the monastery-turned-orphanage like a well-oiled machine, remaining faithful to their spiritual practices and committing their young wards to contribute to Australia's efforts in World War II. The New Boy's arrival starts as a harmless interruption to the Christian haven’s stringent routine. However, as time passes, it ultimately throws the monastery's beliefs off its axis when the New Boy's distinct morality and connections to his spirituality are slowly revealed.
The New Boy constructs a fascinating portrait of the historical treatment of Aboriginal communities in Australia and the significant influences that Christianity had in their forced assimilation. Never given an official Christian name –– perhaps with the subconscious intention to keep him an outsider –– the New Boy is brought to the monastery in a burlap sack, entirely against his will. Yet, his ingrained essence refuses to fade as the nuns attempt to incorporate him into their inflexible society, into their conventional pecking order. Inversely, as the New Boy's spiritual energies are brought forth through different situations, Sister Eileen and her followers are shaken to their Catholic cores as it challenges the teachings of their faith that they have become so conditioned to never question. The boy is liberated from the expectations of Western thinking in ways that the nuns never could be, which instills in them a fear of an alternate form of living they are unable to comprehend.
When a wooden statue of a crucified Christ arrives at the monastery well into the film's nearly two-hour run time, fire and brimstone are released to shatter the abbey's serene existence. Becoming fixated with the sculpture for reasons obscure, the New Boy uses healing powers and experiences stigmata in ways that disorient and disturb Sister Eileen, directly mirroring the capabilities of the icon she has devoted her life to. Not only does this delivery wreck the facade of peaceful religiosity at the monastery, but it also depicts the cracks in Christianity and its historical incapabilities of accepting understandings of spirituality outside of its own. Driven to a state of hysteria, Sister Eileen disregards many of the teachings and convictions of Christianity.
Courtesy of TIFF.
With just a few filming locations and a small cast, The New Boy invites audiences to become engrossed with the film's bucolic beauty and folkloric narrative. Warwick serves as the movie's cinematographer, as he does with most of his work, and the stripped-back aesthetic of its visual language oscillates between accentuating the humble slightness of the monastery among the tranquil farmlands through expansive wide shots and spotlighting the unrestrained expressions of its central cast through intimate close-ups. As the film shifts to a more demanding religious tone in its second half, Warwick's camera utilizes the inherent dramaturgy of natural light and shadow to create lavish frames reminiscent of traditional Christian artwork. Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (known for collaborating with Australian director Andrew Dominik) are in charge of the score for The New Boy, elevating the film's straightforward mise en scène with dynamism to build a sense of anguish in service of the movie’s hard-hitting ideas.
Guided by the central performances of the New Boy and Sister Eileen, The New Boy is well cast to make its stirring narrative one of triumph. The 11-year-old Reid, whose family is from the Kiwirrkurra and Warakurna Aboriginal communities, makes his debut performance in the film, embodying a challenging role with a natural ease and credibility. Since his character does not speak English, Reid's performance relies largely on a youthful physicality and particular mystery that Reid delivers with verismo. Also a producer on the film, Blanchett's turn as Sister Eileen could not be farther away from her Oscar-nominated performance in last year's Tár. Whereas Lydia Tár was the God of her own reality, Sister Eileen is facing a steady internal battle as she grapples with her unauthorized leadership of the monastery. Good-intentioned in caring for her flock of orphans, Sister Eileen will do nearly anything to protect the equilibrium of their world. Blanchett embodies the nun with an edgy power that delves into every facet of the emotional spectrum, with her control spiraling into a religious frenzy as the film moves forward.
A project that Thornton first started bringing to life nearly 20 years ago, The New Boy is a meditation on his own life experience as an Aboriginal filmmaker who attended a boarding school run by Spanish monks during his youth. As with his other work, The New Boy deeply examines Australia's flawed foundations and Western influences in the erasure of Aboriginal communities. Through the lens of spirituality, The New Boy takes on the challenges of depicting the everlasting effects of colonialism and how its relentless methods of indoctrination aimed to extinguish the sparks of countless cultures and peoples. While the film may find itself lost in murky waters as it becomes more lyrical and conceptual toward its finale, Thornton's efforts to explore his own cultural history perfectly exemplify the power of his vision as a filmmaker. The New Boy was featured in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year and made its North American premiere at the Toronto International Festival on September 14.