This Filthy Earth (2001)

Director:

Andrew Kotting

Writers:

Émile Zola (novel) and
Andrew Kotting (writer)

Release Date:

2 November 2001 (UK)

Plot:

The tragic story of two sisters whose lives are disrupted by two men. Amidst a landscape of rural hardship and a community consumed with superstition, events unfurl which threaten their sibling bond. |

Plot Keywords:

Foreign Language Adaptation | Based On Novel

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Rebecca R. Palmer	...	Francine
Shane Attwooll	...	Buto
Demelza Randall	...	Kath
Xavier Tchili	...	Lek
Dudley Sutton	...	Papa
Ina Clough	...	Armandine
Peter-Hugo Daly	...	Jesus Christ
Eve Steele	...	Megan
Ryan Kelly	...	Joey
Benji Ming	...	Perry
Bill Rodgers	...	Gibbon
George Neville	...	Barman
Rachel Kirk	...	Maggie
Etta Kotting	...	Etta
Stuart Richman	...	Mr. Holt

Runtime:

Argentina:115 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente) | France:111 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:R (2007) | Australia:R | UK:15

Company:

East London Film Fund

A rural tale, guaranteed to make you feel bewildered, isolated and unclean

An uncompromising film, which depicts a harsh rural environment in the north of England with an uncomfortable candour. As suggested by the title, the film conveys a constant sense of ingrained griminess along with the isolation of the environment, the constant exposure to the cycle of life and death of the protagonists and their vulnerability to the whim of nature.

For this is a world reminiscent of medieval times where superstition abounds and the viewer becomes a hostage to this.

I witnessed a number of people walk out of this film, mainly due the seemingly impenetrable society featured and I must admit to having questioned my own judgment of having gone to see it near the beginning. However after a number of events in the film the viewer acclimatises to this dirty, brutal world with its crazed inhabitants and their peculiar dialect and ways.

As a rule, the intriguing story moves at a good pace and the characters are well developed. Rebecca R Palmer shines as the lead part of Francine, a woman you feel has been born into the wrong environment. Another intriguing character is that of Jesus Christ (Peter-Hugo Daly), an alcoholic idiot savant who becomes increasingly savant as the other characters descend further into madness.

Occasional moments of Super 8 and time lapse photography lend fantastic elements to the film, but it's mainly steeped in harsh reality.

As I said, it took some getting into but for the majority of it I thoroughly enjoyed this. If you want to see a film like you've never seen before and like it to make you feel altered when you leave the cinema please go and see this. If you want to see a film about a rural idyll and don't like a film to make you feel uncomfortable then give it a wide berth, or wait until it's on TV.