News Bulletin - Australian Animal Studies Group

THE HUNTER
Director: Daniel Nettheim
Produced by Vincent Sheehan
Cinematographer: Andrew Lesnie
Review by Sally Borrell
Mercy Killing
The Hunter, based on Julia Leigh‘s novel of the same
name, is billed as a psychological thriller. Martin David
has been sent to kill a surviving Tasmanian tiger for a
biotechnology company, but his view of his prey is
influenced by his host family, the conservationist
Armstrongs. The film engages with many aspects of
human-animal relations, including issues of
instrumentalism, extinction and personal identification.
The opening credits appear over archival footage of Tasmanian tigers in captivity, which serves to
evoke something of the tragedy and mystique surrounding the species. Its demise is then brought
into the present, where it is informed by contemporary issues. On one side of the struggle, the
biotechnology company, suggestively named Redleaf, hopes to obtain a toxin from the tiger for use
in biowarfare. On the other side, missing naturalist Jarrah Armstrong has resisted Redleaf‘s
overtures, and his conservationist friends try to protect the tiger. The book, though clearly aligned
with their goals, expresses some frustration with the conservationist characters, but the film
presents them with sympathy.
The greatest departure from the novel occurs in Martin‘s relationship to the tiger. In Leigh‘s text,
his attempt to understand his prey in order to catch her results in a paradoxical but powerful
empathy. In the film, he simply wonders ‗if she‘s the last one, alone, just hunting and killing and
waiting to die‘. This suggestion may convey a degree of identification: Martin is a lone hunter
himself. Meanwhile, through Martin‘s host Lucy Armstrong, the film advances the idea that killing
the tiger is the right thing to do. Lucy, whose husband Jarrah may have been ‗hunted down‘,
suggests that extinction might be preferable to being the last thylacine because people will always
hunt her.
After Lucy and her daughter die in a fire, Martin does kill the tiger. Because his personal
involvement with his prey has been downplayed, his grief at her death comes across as a
projection of his feelings about the Armstrongs. However, he has apparently aligned himself with
Lucy, and acted out of compassion. He does not take samples (as he does in the book), instead
calling his contact to say, ‗What you want is gone forever.‘
Thus, The Hunter condemns eradication at a species level, yet presents the killing of the last
member of a species as an act of mercy towards the individual animal. The result is a moving and
thought-provoking film, and like the book, a rich exploration of human-animal relations.
The Hunter has attracted 14 nominations for the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television
Arts Awards including best film, best direction, best adapted screenplay and acting
acknowledgments. For more information, including study guide, see:
http://www.thehuntermovie.com/
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