12 Great Recent Movies You'll Never Be Able To Watch Again
2. The Nightingale
The Nightingale is a rape-revenge thriller from The Babadook's Jennifer Kent.
It centres around two traumatised characters - an Irish convict named Clare (Aisling Franciosi) and an Aboriginal tracker named Billy (Baykali Ganambarr) - tracking down a British officer (Sam Claflin) who raped Clare and murdered her husband and baby and is, by far and away, the most miserable film of 2019.
Filled with deeply upsetting violence and horrific displays of the racism the Australian Aboriginals were subject to during this period of history, The Nightingale is an endlessly depressing and ferociously graphic dive into Australia's troubled history, that only seems to get sadder and sadder as it goes along.
It is, overall, a strong work thanks to amazing performances, Jennifer Kent's powerful direction and a hard-hitting story, but it's certainly not an enjoyable or pleasant watch. It's hard to blame the 30+ people who walked out at the Sydney Film Festival. Apparently, one of them shouted "I'm not watching this; she's already been raped twice!" as she left.
As these walkouts prove, The Nightingale is not for everyone and for those who can stomach it, a second viewing will be out of the question.