‘The New Boy’, a new Australian drama set in the 1940s regarding faith & clash of cultures.  It was directed by Warwick Thornton,  and stars Cate Blanchett- it's now showing theatrical in the  UK and the Republic of Ireland.

The film concerns the arrival of a mysterious indigenous boy (Aswen Reid) at a Catholic monastery/orphanage located deep within the outback. The boy, identified in the credits as well as the movie title as ‘The New Boy’ is befriended by Sister Eileen (Blanchett), the de facto head of the monastery since the unexplained death of the male head.  Sister Eileen attempts to initiate the nameless, wordless Boy into Christian society.  Unknown to her, the boy possesses mystical powers of healing and the eventual clash of church authority with the Boy’s curious spirituality creates serious consequences for both of them.

Warwick Thornton, an Australian director with indigenous roots, whose earlier films include the lauded ‘Samson and Delilah’ and ‘Sweet Country’ has created an interesting account of what happens when an established church collides with a personal and possibly native spirituality.  Thornton has tried valiantly to avoid naked allegory and only at the very end does his thesis become a little too on the nose.

The standout performances are given by the leads.  Making his debut as the New Boy, Aswen Reid is excellent, perfectly conveying the Boy’s confusion and difficulty in adapting to new values while frequently displaying adorable scamp energy.  Blanchett is dependable as always.  Her performance recalls the most iconic type of screen nun; the statuesque, devout but repressed figures played memorably in the past by Deborah Kerr, Kathleen Byron and Vanessa Redgrave.

Although incorporating explicitly fantastical elements (such as the New Boy’s healing powers), this is not a fantasy film in the conventional sense.  It has more in common with the genre of magical realism:  the fantasy elements work to make the realistic depiction of a society fuller and underline any point the author is making.  Although the film begins with a title card describing the church’s collusion in helping the Australian Government “breed out the black” by splitting up indigenous communities and families and depositing the children into orphanages, Thornton avoids easy slogans about racism and Sister Eileen, an anti-heroine by virtue of being a nun, remains entirely sympathetic.

The director’s message is made (somewhat too) explicit at the end when the newly Christened and properly dressed Boy is no longer able to attract the attention of a life-sized statue of Jesus he has established a magical connection with; the church has no connection to authentic spirituality and can only crush it.

The Catholic Church has had a chequered past and sometimes has come down solidly on the side of evil (as with the Nazis).  However, the binary of Church equals bad and native forms of spirituality equals good strikes me as naïve.  I know little about Australian indigenous mysticism but I do know that some European forms of paganism were cruel and their rituals involved human sacrifice.

So in conclusion ‘The New Boy’ is an intriguingly enigmatic and stately film,  which is well worth seeing.