'The Drover's Wife' Trailer is Equal Parts Savage and Beautiful

By Jen Maravegias | Film | June 17, 2021 |

By Jen Maravegias | Film | June 17, 2021 |

Roxana wrote up a review for this latest entry into the “Oh right, Australia was racist as hell” cinematic sphere back in April. Now we’ve got an official trailer, although no release date, for Leah Purcell’s The Drover’s Wife.

The Drover’s Wife started as a short story written by Henry Lawson in 1892. Much of Lawson’s work focused on the difficulties of life in the Australian Outback and also served as a nationalistic celebration of Australia’s later colonial period and early independence. Leah Purcell, an Indigenous Australian, adapted that short story into a well-received play, in which she also starred, in 2016. She then adapted her manuscript into a book, which was not as well received. She has writing, directing, and starring credits on the film version, which also serves as a showcase of Australia’s isolating beauty, where brutality and mercy act as uneasy counterbalances.