The Nightingale

2019 • 136 minutes

About this movie

Director Jennifer Kent ("The Babadook") tells the sweeping tale of a young woman's quest for revenge set in 1825 against the perilous and unforgiving terrain of Tasmania.

Ratings and reviews

Both daunting in its length and unflinching in its brutality, "The Nightingale", the second directorial effort from "The Babadook" director, Jennifer Kent, tells an effective, if occasionally tedious, tale of rape, murder, racism, empathy, and revenge set against the backdrop of British colonialism in 1825 Tasmania. Make no mistake, the events of this movie can be very hard to watch and its length can feel unnecessary, but strong performances from the primary cast make this harrowing look at a dark time in Australian history worth seeing through to the end.

I wont rate it with stars because i honestly dont know what to rate it but this film is trippy. On 1 hand i applaud the director for trying to highlight the brutal and racist history of the uk invading Australia unapollogetically and offering viewpoints from both sides but i think the number and length of the rape scenes were so unnecesary & I was surprised to learn the director was a woman. Theres many triggering scenes but if not for so many rape scenes,i'd otherwise reccomend this film.

What a brutal and beautiful look into an experience that is so familiar around the world but so foreign to my own experience. There are some very hard to watch scenes of physical violence including sexual assault but I think the unflinching portrayal is necessary because that brutality was and is part of us.