Nitram (2021 movie)

Category: Biographical drama.

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Nitram is produced by the same person that brought you Snowtown, Justin Kurzel. So you know it's not going to be a rom-com.

Even if you're not overly familiar with large swathes of Australian history, you probably already know about the Port Arthur Massacre, Australia's worst instance of firearm deaths and the catalyst for our world-famous gun laws. And just like with Snowtown, this movie is a 90% retelling - it tells the overall story, but changes some details.

Nitram (played by Caleb Landry Jones, and based off of the real-life perpetrator Martin Bryant) lives with his mother (Judy Davis) and father (Anthony LaPaglia) who clearly love and dote on their son, but his intellectual disability affects how he interacts with people and the world around him. And given this is the 1970s and 1980s, not much in the way of social support is given - you were expected to tough it out and hope for the best.

We see various interactions between Nitram and his parents that clearly show the struggle they go through to keep him out of trouble and them onto their sanity, as well as Nitram's father's attempt to secure a bank loan to buy a bed and breakfast on the Tasmanian coast that he plans to retire to.

Nitram reaches adulthood, but his disability means he is not able to maintain steady employment. Pushed on by his exasperated dad, he starts a side-hustle of mowing lawns, leading him to cross paths with Helen (Essie Davis), a character based on the real life Helen Mary Elizabeth Harvey, a beneficiary of the Tattersall's lotto company. It turns out that Helen is equally a misfit to the wider world as Nitram is, though her wealth puts her in good stead with those around her such as the car dealer she regularly buys vehicles from.

Nitram forms a non-romantic bond with Helen and moves in with her, and we can see that despite her wealth, she lives in squalor and has lost control of the numerous dogs on her property. The dogs get taken away so Helen and Nitram then move away from the city to a rural property in a country town, giving Nitram the freedom to indulge in being a menace, such as firing his air rifle in the presence of the neighbours.

Nitram's father puts an offer to the bed and breakfast operators, but becomes despondent when it turns out the owners accepted a higher offer. Not long after this, Helen dies in a car crash caused by Nitram suddenly grabbing the steering wheel as Helen is driving, but Nitram lies to the police and says he was asleep (in the equivalent real life incident, Bryant stated that Harvey was distracted by the dogs fighting in the back seat). Because Helen had bequeathed her properties and fortune to Nitram, this allows him to indulge in whatever he feels like, revolving mostly around alcohol, guns and overseas travel.

Nitram's father is found dead, and Nitram's attempt at attending the funeral in a very eclectic choice of suit pushes a wedge further between Nitram and his mother, further isolating him. He is then shown sitting infront of the TV while watching news reports of the Dunblane Massacre from over in Scotland, which fuels his interest in actual guns. We then see Nitram purchasing a variety of weapons, and with them in tow, he heads to the property that he and his dad were not able to purchase and fatally shoots the owners.

From here, he goes to main town of Port Arthur and after casually walking in, he takes out a gun and opens fire on the unsuspecting people around him.

The movie closes with a shot of Mary Bryant doing household chores while a live report of the massacre plays in the background.

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This movie is equally as good as Kurzel's other biographical drama, Snowtown. There's just a brilliance to how Kurzel is able to bring to life these people who have done horrible things and the struggle of those around them.

Landry Jones' performance here is spectacular. When I read that he was an American actor that had to learn the Australian accent, I was amazed and I was not able to detect even a hint of American. 

And Anthony LaPaglia as the constantly stressed and frustrated dad - man, I felt stressed just watching him.

It's also worth noting that this is not a horror movie - anyone expecting a bloodbath based on the tragedy will miss out. Instead, it is a gritty and scary human drama, much like Joker was, about people who struggle and what happens when forgotten people are forgotten. In fact, we don't see any on-screen murders until right at the very end.

As a Victorian, I was pleased to see that the movie was filmed in Geelong. I thought I recognised some of the streetscapes.

And just like with Snowtown, there was a chorus of people who were displeased with the idea of making a movie based on the tragedy of what happened at Port Arthur. And to them, I'd say it's better to have someone with skill who will tell the story for what it represents, warts and all, than for someone else to make it who will treat the story as an excuse to make a tac write-off movie.

STAR RATING: 4.75/5