Tiger Burning Bright

Again with the sorrowful footage. Once more we see the sad film of the last Tasmanian Tiger in captivity, pacing its lonely cell and trying to escape the fate we had brought it to. The animal is so familiar to us, half dingo, half devil. What went wrong?

Well nothing, for Willem Dafoe who slips as naturally into this role as a second skin. What isn't there to like for him? He is a sure thing for the lean man who tracks through the unkind beauty of the Tasmanian outback and sets meticulous traps for the unseen and unwary fauna. He cradles his complex weaponry like a lover and is alert to the sounds of the wilderness and the prospect of treachery. Around him the vast splendour of Tasmania spreads out in all its glory. As scary as the moon and as intoxicating.

In his search for the Tiger with its haunting bark, he is billeted with a mother and her two children, Morgana Davies and Finn Woodlock. The relationship he forms with these two is enchanting and subtly varied. Of course, having worked with Morgana, you would expect nothing less from her but it is wonderful to watch. And she is only a little girl at the beginning of her climb. But there is also a little boy and his ride to escort Dafoe off the property is one of the most truly moving scenes I have ever seen. Enchanting without that layer of cuteness that seems to be thickly applied wherever children appear in movies. Morgana works well with other children. I have seen her helping her 'younger' brother in The Tree through his first interview and she uses that same care here with her new 'brother'.

The Hunter is half in love with the children's mother (Frances O'Connor) who is jealously guarded by a wary neighbour, (Sam Neill) but the real star of this tale is The Tiger. Can they make him return and make him as beautiful as once he was?