The Narrow Road to the Deep North subtly understands the complexity and contradictions of what it means to be alive, a person, trying to struggle through a life.
The first two episodes of The Narrow Road to the Deep North were screened in a double episode showing at this year’s Berlinale. An adaptation of Richard Flanagan’s Man Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name, starring Jacob Elordi and Ciarán Hinds as the respectively younger-and-older versions of Dorrigo Evans, the beginning of the series evokes all the sensuality, intensity and horror of the wonderfully poignant book.
Justin Kurzel’s five parter tracks Dorrigo’s life over the course of several decades, from his life before World War Two, during the war as a medical officer, and decades later as a much older, revered war hero and surgeon. By far the most compelling of these interwoven periods is the representation of the prisoner of war camp, where Elordi and his fellow Australian troops are captured and brutally tortured by Japanese soldiers, forced to work on building the Thai-Burma railway under the most horrific conditions imaginable.
Shots of the men’s bodies at the camp are evocative of Claire Denis’s magnificent portrayal of the stoicism, strength, detachment and violence exerted upon the male physique in her seminal film Beau Travail (1999). The sheer weight of the suffering enacted upon the Australian troops is horrific to watch, provoking a poignant contemplation of the humanity of man. Even as one’s faith in man is questioned, however, the Australian soldiers’ endurance, solidarity and care for each other maintains hope in the human condition.
The strength of the bonds formed between the soldiers is, however, not enough to prevent Dorrigo’s trauma decades after the war is over. Dorrigo’s wife Ella, played by Heather Mitchell, comments in the later part of their lives that her husband doesn’t have any friends. In fact, his strongest attachments as an older man appear to be formed only with women. Both before and after the war, Dorrigo has a series of affairs, despite his apparent love and tenderness towards his wife. The sensuality and tenderness of his relationships with Ella, as well as his uncle’s wife Amy (Odessa Young), and his colleague’s wife Lynette (Essie Davis), clearly provides a welcome respite for Evans, who otherwise appears alienated, cold and austere, irrevocably troubled by the war.
The artistry of Kurzel’s series, then, is to display the human desire for love and connection, even in the face of the most disturbing, traumatic events that a person could possibly face. Without falling into cliches, reductive binaries of good/evil, or overdone violence, The Narrow Road to the Deep North subtly understands the complexity and contradictions of what it means to be alive, a person, trying to struggle through a life.
Cinematic series have been screened with increasing frequency at film festivals over the last few years and are always a welcome variation on the typical feature format. If you have the chance to watch a TV series such as this on the big screen, I would highly recommend doing so, as it can only add to the viewing experience – even if you’re left desperate for more upon leaving the cinema…
Film Fest Report is an accredited media at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival.
