“Michael Howe leaves Ned Kelly for dead”, acclaimed Australian writer/ actor and filmmaker, Brendan Cowell has said. “I couldn’t believe his story hadn’t been told. He was largely written out of history because of the humiliation he inflicted on the government. The guy nearly overthrew the government, it would have been a very different Australia if he had succeeded.”
“Michael Howe leaves Ned Kelly for dead”, acclaimed Australian writer/ actor and filmmaker, Brendan Cowell has said. “I couldn’t believe his story hadn’t been told. He was largely written out of history because of the humiliation he inflicted on the government. The guy nearly overthrew the government, it would have been a very different Australia if he had succeeded.”
An outstanding production and directorial team is behind the widely praised, The Outlaw Michael Howe. The film is a period piece set in early 1800s, Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) and tells the real life story of immensely powerful bushranger and freedom fighter, Michael Howe (1787 – 1818). There’s no denying the passion this man had for the people of the land and the fight he put forward, in the name of freedom. He was strongly against a penal colony under British rule and the corruption and slavery that followed with it. Howe can be credited with setting Australia on the brink of a civil war that saw him become the most wanted man in the Empire.
Australia’s colonial past is poignant to its history and there have been many films that have sometimes celebrated but mostly brought attention to the list of infamous murderers, madmen and bushrangers of the era. Why our obsession? Maybe it has to do with our curiosity of the fearless traveler but more likely it’s to do with the few niggles we have with authority and how we ourselves might rebel. Either way, we know life as a convict was tough, but life as a bushranger was even tougher. Some of our favourite notorious Australian bushrangers are Alexander Pearce, Frederick Ward or Captain Thunderbolt, ‘Brave’ Benjamin Hall and last but not least, Ned Kelly - all have been the subjects of films you’ll have seen or at least heard about.
Ned Kelly (2003) was a film, girlfriends and I watched over again at our hostel at university. It’s almost like the Kelly gang has seen the collective psyche of the Australian masses join in national pride of the pack. Between 1875 and 1880 the outlaws killed three police officers and robbed the National Banks in Euroa and Jerilderie - at Jerilderie, they burnt the mortgage papers of small-town farmers who were indebted to the bank. Looking back in hindsight, the film was probably a favourite because of its eye candy, the late Heath Ledger plays Kelly and Orlando Bloom is his best friend and accomplice as Joe Byrne.
Born in Yorkshire, England, Howe was charged with highway robbery as a teen and was sentenced to seven years at prison settlement, Van Diemen’s Land. Under supervision he worked as a farmer and merchant. He managed to runaway and took to bush leading a band of 29 escaped convicts and army deserters. Howe and his followers pillaged their way across the district, to the point of threat to the colony. Howe became a well-known bushranger of the area who called himself ‘Governor of the Rangers’. Lieutenant Governor Thomas Davey declared Martial law for six months in an unsuccessful attempt to rid the colony of them.
For a year Howe deterred his pursuers by keeping to remote areas and threatening people he met along the way if they didn’t help him with food or shelter. A reward of £105 was offered for his capture. Bushman and bounty hunters from all over Australia were sent to track him down. He was found in 1818 and clubbed to death near his hut on the banks of the Shannon River, buried on the spot, his head was exhibited in Hobart. As a side note, his story in, Michael Howe - the Last and Worst of the Bushrangers, was published in 1819 as a 40-page pamphlet, it was the first work of general literature printed in Australia, and later made into a book in 1834.
I agree with critic, Helen Vnuk, who has said of the film, “there’s no shortage of films set in Australia’s colonial past, but this one makes you feel like you’re seeing the era through new eyes.” What makes The Outlaw Michael Howe stand out from the rest is the honesty in the portrayal of the man that he was. The film also includes two strong female leads, which is refreshing. The taboo relationship between Howe, a white man and his aboriginal companion and mother to his child, is portrayed in an unobtrusive and gentle manner. Howe kept a written account of his thoughts on paper, in what he called, The Journal of Dreams, it is used as a guide throughout the film and as a result, the script and dialogue in the film feels natural yet rich.
The cinematography in this film is much talked about amongst the critics, and has been described as “a visually stylized assault on colonization and invasion”. Shot by Simon Harding, DOP for The Hobbit (2012) we are treated to the unruly Tasmanian wilderness in this one. Blood and guts, and all things primitive are not left out though and make it all the more real. It is interesting to note the surge of films made recently that have touched on the all too familiar themes of colonialism, slavery, survival and freedom. The Outlaw Michael Howe is definitely up there with the best of them.
“They think their war is stronger than a man’s desire to be free. We want to be remembered as the men who stood up against corruption, who didn’t want to see our brothers live and die as slaves.” The Journal of Dreams, Michael Howe (1787 – 1818)
Screening Times:
15/04/2015 8:30pm
16/04/2015 8:45am
19/04/2015 11:05pm