birck I agree with most of the comments on this film-it is very Australian, in spite of its Dutch/Polish roots, the acting is spot-on, with one possible exception, the chemistry between the two leads is palpable, and there are no false notes right up to the end. One quibble another reviewer had is about the cop that shows up unbidden every time something unusual goes down at the main character's house which is, to say the least, off the beaten track and not on anybody's nightly rounds. That happens two or three times in the film. The connection seemed pretty clear to me from the first. Another reviewer mentioned the tacit acceptance of human trafficking in the local metropolis (Boonah and/or Beaudesert, near Brisbane). There's your answer. The only problem I had with the film is its ending. It wraps up one major story point, but opens up two or three new ones, then leaves them unresolved: After a life-and-death struggle (I won't say with whom) the two main characters are left alive, reunited and intact at the end, all dressed up-he's wearing a suit for the first time-but in what is clearly a jail or detention center of some kind, although they are not behind bars. Who is "inside" and who is out is not made clear. Where did this come from? True-she's an undocumented alien, and now that her main concern has been resolved, maybe she's just planning to leave Australia for home, but none of that has come up before, and why is he wearing a suit? What is about to happen? Are they getting married, or what? The two main characters have been bonding slowly until this point-and suddenly it's all over? There may be a simple answer, but the scene was so unexpected that it seemed like a damaged print. That startling non-ending is my only reason for giving the film a "7" instead of a 9 or 10.

John McGhie I'm a sucker for romance. No, I didn't give Legally Blonde a ten, but I'm pretty tragic: I watched Notting Hill three times.That's what I thought I was getting this time. I was wrong.I recorded this, and it was a few months until I got around to watching it.It helps if you don't know that it's a remake: but by now, you do. Or of what... If you've seen the other movie, you can watch this one too: trust me, you have NOT seen it before! When I watched it, I didn't know it was a re-make; I didn't even know it was Australian. I take the point of the poster who said this is two stories compressed into the one movie: it is. He believes that's over-doing it. I respectfully disagree: in Australia, we often find the "one idea" Hollywood treatment of a story quite unsatisfying.This movie had me in from the opening scenes. It's one of the few movies I wouldn't pause to take a phone call. That's my highest accolade, and this one earns it.Notice the high ratings the Australian posters are giving it? That's not entirely because we like our own films. It's also because this has an authenticity that is utterly compelling, if you happen to speak Australian. If you do speak Australian, you will realise that the power of this story is in what is NOT said. Which tends to be the way rural Australians communicate! Outback Australia really is like this: particularly the north of the country.

Balthazar-5 This film demonstrates how fragile film aesthetics are. Quite possibly as a novel, which takes time to read and allows us to accommodate shifts in our emotions, it could be fine. But here we have, essentially two conflicting stories that are jammed onto one another with destructive results.One story is a tough, indeed brutal, issues movie dealing with justice, male dominance and humanist sentiments, the other is a touching romance about two vulnerable people trying to heal each other from their emotional scars. Neither of these is very original and the one, in my view, emotionally precludes the other. When we are steamed up about injustice, we cannot access the very fine-tuned emotions associated with love.One of the greatest things about the film medium is its ability to twist time and integrate the past into the present. But here, that is the film's undoing. If the story had been told chronologically, we would at least have been able to get the nastiness out of the way and empathise with the romance, but the threat and extremely crude depictions of the 'horrors of the brothel' keep bursting back in, destroying any subtle emotions that have been generated.

nanapeaches Interesting concept. It was quite well acted, it had captivating cinematography at times, and I found it entertaining, humorous, and humane. Overall a good, solid movie without the usual boring script. I was surprised, as I usually find independent movies a total hit or miss experience. This one, shockingly, had a clear ending with only a minimal cheesy factor :) I vacillated between feeling compassion for the characters and respect for the director/script writer. I would whole heartedly recommend the watching of this movie and look forward to see how other individuals react. I would be interested in knowing if there was an alternate ending to the movie.