My Own Private Heart of Darkness.

Maybe I'm in the minority here but I think this is a truly amazing film. I am very much biased due to the setting being my homeland. I've walked woods identical to these and been bushwacked my fair share, and let me tell you it is no picnic. In some places down here you can get 5 minutes off-track and have all lines of sight cut off. That's why Van Diemen's Land (2009) was so visceral to me when I saw it upon its theatrical release; I had just moved to Hobart and had only ventured into the bush a few times. It was like the most extreme kind of cautionary tale to me: don't leave the beaten path.

After this revisitation, I must say that there's so much more I love about Van Diemen's Land after living here for over a decade. It's depicting the natural realm of this island in all its glory, and bare hostility. The all-consuming cold, the Tasmanian Devils' nightly growls, ferns as far as the eye can see, the mud, the lichen, the springs, it's all here.
Also, I think a post-colonial reading of this film is so rewarding. When the convicts make their escape, the now-restrained overseer jeers at them, "There's nothing out there." Now, this statement when first heard seems innocuous, the overseer is just telling the escapees that they won't survive. But, consider that there's nothing out there because the indigenous people have already been removed from the area. They're no longer anywhere near nipaluna/Hobart because they know they will be shot and killed. Any that might be in the vacinity would avoid these white men like the plague, for obvious reasons. And without indegenous people to meet with and ask for help (even in futility), these convicts are doomed from the outset. The very same State apparatus that condemned these men to transportation also committed the genocide that confounds their escape. That's the brutal power of colonialism, and what makes this film great for highlighting it so subtly.

No big names in the cast and that's why Van Diemen's Land works so well: there's no clear protagonist until the real action starts. Imagine a Fassbender in the mix... he'd completely steal every scene. In any case, the actors kill their respective roles (pun intended). The Gaelic is such a nice (and effective) touch). Further, there's so much emotional movement in this film and I love how it revolves politically. The English against the Irish, as it absolutely would be in this context. And who is eating so intensely at the beginning of the film? An English military officer. Surely a portent of English actions to come (I'm sorry but it is Greenhill who is the instigator).

Just quickly, can we talk about the slight but noticeable colour-grading change in the final scene? A little bit more colour gets put back in, it seems. The light correction shifts too. Magical to me.

In short, I actually think this as a 10/10 potential upon further rewatches. A personal favourite, absolutely.