The Dry

A crime film set in a drought-stricken Australian town. Aaron works as a federal police officer. When a childhood friend dies along with his family, he returns after twenty years to the town he was born in. The official view is that the man killed his wife and son and then himself. Aaron does not believe it. The town does not want him. A girl died there years ago and many people still hold him responsible. So the investigation runs between two files: the present deaths and the event of twenty years before. The drought is part of the story. The region has had no rain for years; farms are close to failing, debts have piled up and everyone is on edge with everyone else. The motive for the killing is looked for inside that economic collapse. The source is Jane Harper's novel. Eric Bana plays Aaron. The photography uses the landscape directly as a threat: dry fields, low light, empty roads. A solid example for anyone who likes slow crime films and rural narratives. For a viewer wanting fast tension, the film conducts its investigation patiently and the resolution comes late.