Unfinished Sky (2007)

John Woldring is an honest Australian Outback sheep-farmer and he leads an isolated life. Suddenly an exotic women turns up at night, armed and frightened out of her wits. He takes her in, grumpily resists her romantic overtures but allows her to become his housekeeper. Gradually he finds out she's an Afghan refugee, looking for other illegally emigrated relatives. He tries to help her quest, but they soon experience the human traffickers are on her track, and better connected then John could guess.Good movie. Liked the cast.

When Australia cinema decide to make good films, no one can beat them! Not only are their stories inspired, but they make excellent movies. Take Peter Duncan's "The Unfinished Sky", which we were fortunate to catch recently. This film and Ray Lawrence's satisfying "Jindabyne" are two of the best movies that have come out form Down Under lately. Mr. Duncan, who is also the adapter of the original Dutch film, "The Polish Bride", written for the screen by Kees Van Der Hulst, transferred the story to Australia's Queensland, a great idea because of the type of farmers that live isolated lives in that area of the country.John Woldring, a lonely widower, lives in his sheep farm. He blames himself for the death of his wife, who evidently has died in an accident, but John feels he killed her. When John spots a battered and wounded woman running near his house, he goes out to see what's going on. He is shocked by what he sees because she has been given quite a beating. In spite of turning her to the police, John keeps her home. The stranger is deeply traumatized.The local police officer comes to inquire whether John has seen the fleeing woman. John lies because even though he doesn't know the circumstances that made the woman run away from an unknown situation. To make matters worse, this wounded stranger speaks no English. When he shows her a map, she points to Afghanistan as to the country she came from. That makes it almost impossible for him to know what she is trying to communicate to him.Little by little she reveals her name, Tahmeena. She tries to illustrate what happened to her by drawing a sort of family tree in which someone's name shows an arrow that points in Australia's direction. John warms up to Tahmeena by giving her clothes from his late wife's closet. Tahmeena, in turn, begins to straighten out the mess John has made of the house. John resents Tahmeena's cleaning, but he realizes she wants to pull her weight. She hates his sausages, which she considers to be dog food. She wants to teach him to eat right!One thing John doesn't appreciate is the way Tahmeena figures how to solve an abandoned jigsaw puzzle depicting a blue sky with some clouds rests unfinished on a table. We figure this is something left from the time his wife was around; John just wants to cling to something from his former life. The secret John has been carrying with him is revealed, when the grateful parents of a young man John and Tahmeena have found wounded on the road pay a visit. They want him to come to a party they are giving, but he prefers to stay away. The couple tells him he can't go on grieving his wife forever because she had an accident and didn't kill her.Things come to a head one night when the owner of the pub in town and his son, who have suspected all along John is hiding the woman, come to get her. They are in for a surprise! The same goes for the local policeman, who is also part of the puzzle that got Tahmeena hurt. The real reason behind Tahmeena's beating becomes clear. The bad policeman has a lot to say about what really went on at the hotel.Peter Duncan's direction got excellent performances of the two stars. William McInnes plays the taciturn John Woldring with conviction. The same can be said of the understated performance of Monic Hendrickx, the original actress in the Dutch original. Both Mr. McInnes and Ms Hendrickx are the reason for watching this satisfying movie, which they make a winner. Robert Humphreys captures that part of Australia in vivid detail. The music score of Anthony Partos is another asset in the film.

I really wanted to like this film because of the fascinating story line of an Afghani woman and a rural Australian farmer. These really are two worlds that should not collide, and so the premise based on a collision of these two characters should make for a compelling narrative. However, when I walked out of the cinema I left with the feeling the film was satisfactory but nonetheless failed to deliver.The chemistry between the two main actors was evident, and the powerful feature of the film was the beautiful silences between them. For aspiring screenwriters Peter Duncan and Mr. der Hulst prove that films light on dialogue make for fascinating stories, because we can evaluate the characters based on what they do, not on what they say. This is not an easy accomplishment in screen writing, as the tendency is to write cheesy dialogue that suffocates story. Moreover, most actors seem to choose scripts heavy on dialogue with the hope it contains that one memorable line. Unfinished Sky is truly a story told in pictures.The veracity of the story is believable, and no Australian should doubt the possibility that an almost an entire rural community could be complicit in the knowledge that certain "businesses" employ and exploit illegal immigrants, particularly females. Now, I think the most unbelievable aspect of the story was the community police officer and his relationship with the town and the main character John. He suddenly just seemed to show-up throughout the film, and I couldn't help feel the Director was throwing him into the scenes for the purpose of maximizing dramatic value. It didn't work, and Roy Billing is forced into overacting.Flashbacks – another screen writing vehicle that either works or doesn't. I think there were other ways they could have structured the narrative, perhaps in a more chronological order, as opposed to inserting flashbacks throughout. Sadly, Unfinished Sky is a film that incorporates flashbacks to the detriment of my viewing experience. It slowed the action down; there were other ways to reveal insights about these characters.My last critique was the blue sky as the chosen motif for the film. Personally, if the title of the film is Unfinished Sky then the film's key motif should NOT be the same! Surely! The Director frequently portrayed John working on an "unfinished puzzle" depicting a blue sky. Then John and T. working together on the puzzle. I felt at times choking on metaphors; not an ideal cinematic experience. More subtlety is required.Finally, one reviewer made this comment about the film "When we are steamed up about injustice, we cannot access the very fine-tuned emotions associated with love." I whole-heartedly disagree with that. This line says a lot more about the individual viewer than it does the quality of the film.

Interesting concept. It was quite well acted, it had captivating cinematography at times, and I found it entertaining, humorous, and humane. Overall a good, solid movie without the usual boring script. I was surprised, as I usually find independent movies a total hit or miss experience. This one, shockingly, had a clear ending with only a minimal cheesy factor :) I vacillated between feeling compassion for the characters and respect for the director/script writer. I would whole heartedly recommend the watching of this movie and look forward to see how other individuals react. I would be interested in knowing if there was an alternate ending to the movie.