“The New Boy” Film Review: Cognitive Dissonance, identity and the Cost of Salvation

May 18

The New Boy by Warwick Thornton is a story about 1940s Australia. A young Aboriginal boy is forcibly taken to an isolated Christian mission where the issue of forced assimilation is more important than kindness. The boy, played by Aswan Reid, does not talk much, yet the slight glow in his hands hints at ancient power that is older than the church he is in--a power that he silently employs to heal others. Thornton does not describe how that light comes, and the loss is painful when it goes away after baptism.

The film is slow but tries to lure you into every silent scene. Thornton switches between the plain interiors of the mission and the vast Australian bush in the first act. The camera is full of the dull energy of red earth, dry trees, and cloudy skies. Those landscape scenes are not just scenery, but Thornton's decision to show exterior shots in the big and beautiful way he did makes you think of the ancestral connection the boy likely has with the land. The New Boy is a quiet film, and for most of the film, you hear the wind blowing in dry leaves and the sound of birds in the distance more than you hear the dialogue. Nature is part of the story and emphasizes how ill-fitting the mission is.

Cate Blanchett adds a certain silent power to Sister Eileen. She walks the mission with a strong belief, but you can feel her faith waver every time she comes across the boy's gift.She never descends into stereotype, and that restraint makes her inner conflict more interesting than any dramatic outburst would have been.

I wanted to know more about the boy's life before his arrival- not just to know what was taken away but also to respect his culture and identity. With such a vague backstory, the movie makes the doubts of Blanchett the center of attention and moves the boy's point of view to the periphery. That seems to be its biggest missed opportunity, as his perspective should be at the center of the narrative. It is possible that Thornton wanted to write about his personal experience of assimilation, but in the process, he leaves the boy's journey incomplete.

The New Boy doesn't flesh out any part of Indigenous spirituality for the audience. Rather, the movie keeps its mystery and leaves us to ponder what we lose when we have one belief system believing that they are the only ones to salvation. In the end, I found this film borderline frustrating and, at times, dull and uneven, but also true to life in its depiction of the churches' positions in cultural erasure.

THEATRICAL RELEASE MAY 23RD. AVAILABLE TO BUY OR RENT ON DIGITAL MAY 30TH.