The Legend of Molly Johnson

My Review - The Drovers Wife My Rating 6.5 /10 I have to admire Leah Purcell for her adaptation of Henry Lawson's short story of 1892 "The Drovers Wife". As well as starring as Molly Johnson in the film adaptation of her 2019 book and play Leah Purcell has Directed and written the Screenplay for the movie in my view a mistake .

After watching the film in which Leah Purcell gives a wonderful dramatic performance I looked at Henry Lawson's story to see if there was any similarity to Leah Purcell's version because there were elements of this movie I enjoyed and aspects that I found contrived and predictable .

Leah Purcell's version of Henry Lawson story has similarities as it is about a woman isolated in an outback hut with her four children while her husband is away droving or is he?

The snake in the original story becomes every male in the movie as all the male characters are violent and cruel except the shackled Aboriginal fugitive named Yakada .

All the women are in one way or another exploited and treated either violently or just dismissed as irrelevant.

The snake in Henry Lawson's which threatens The Drovers Wife and her childhood disappears under the house and she waits till dawn when it reappears she kills it with the help of her dog Alligator.

The similarity ends there as Leah Purcell has cleverly adapted Henry Lawson's story retelling it through an Indigenous feminist lens, inspired by her own lived experience and the stories of her ancestor.

The Cinematography by Mark Wareham is very impressive most of the scenes were shot in The Snowy Mountains around Adaminaby.

I didn't see this on a Cinema screen or see the play where it may have had more impact but as a movie I can't say it worked for me I found it dull and very grim in parts and while I admire Leah Purcell's performance and passion for the story I didn't find it entertaining or very believable.

The opposite word for misogyny is misandry which literary means women who hate men and as I mentioned everyman in this movie is a hateful cruel character and this seems unbalanced to me .

If I saw a film that was misogynistic I'd also call it out ,just recently I saw Where the Crawdads Sing I gave it a 10/10 and mention that as an example of what I'm trying to get across. That movie depicts terrible domestic violence perpetrated by hateful men and racial intolerance but manages to have gender balance while still getting across the message that applies to The Drovers Wife that A Critters got to do what it needs to do to survive................