Culture

Rialto Cinema - Moray Place
Monday 19 August 12pm

Rating: 3.5/5

The Weight of Elephants is a dramatic film set in rural Invercargill, directed by New Zealand born and raised but Denmark-based Daniel Joseph Borgman. The story follows 11-year-old Adrian (Demos Murphy), a sensitive and lonely boy convinced that his new next door neighbours are the three local children who were recently abducted.

Adrian’s life is bleak: having been abandoned by his mother he lives with his less-than-nurturing grandma and mentally ill Uncle Rory. His only escape from this unhappy home is school, where he is a target for class bullies. The one glimmer of light in his life is the possible friendship with the new girl next door, but Nicole (Angelina Cottrell) is confrontational and complicated, and battling her own challenges at home.

The Weight of Elephants tackles many difficult issues head on: death, mental illness, abduction, abandonment, loneliness and bullying. I was lucky enough to speak with Borgman about the film, and he explained that he’s happy for the viewer to take their own personal meaning from his representation of these issues –“that’s the beauty of cinema, every audience member brings their own experiences to the film.” The story may be harrowing, but Borgman is careful to make sure that it isn’t without hope; the film’s ending is decidedly cheerier than that of the novel on which it is based (Of A Boy by Sonya Hartnett). “A novel can do different things than a film,” Borgman said. “The novel is very sad but poetic, but in film the same ending would have been making a statement we didn’t want to make. It would have given in to hopelessness.”

The film completely relies on the audience’s sympathy and connection to protagonist Adrian, something which is triumphantly assured by Demos Murphy’s raw and hauntingly real performance. Murphy’s acting ability is astonishing for an 11-year-old, especially one with little previous experience. Borgman and his casting director auditioned over 800 children for the part, but struggled to find their perfect Adrian. Eventually, through a friend of a friend of a friend, Borgman finally met Murphy. “It was fate!” Borgman laughed. For Borgman, it was Murphy’s emotional intelligence, confidence and sensitivity that made him right for the part. “Not many 11-year-old boys are happy to be sensitive – they think if you’re sensitive you’re not strong.” Murphy was the exception.

Something I particularly love about the film is how it so effectively captures the essence of Southland. The photography is sparse, bleak and striking, and moments such as Adrian sitting in a wooden paddle boat in a concrete back yard just feel so perfectly Invercargill. Borgman describes capturing this essence as a “process.” Location scouts worked hard to find the perfect areas, but Borgman emphasised the need to incorporate the unexpected – the stranded paddle boat was a happy accident for which Borgman made room in the film. Borgman was eager to return to New Zealand and to make a film in the country in which he grew up, and found the story – in which the protagonist’s world “[falls] apart around him –perfectly suited to the setting of rural Southland.

This film has been very well received worldwide, not only making it onto the Official Selection of the New Zealand International Film Festival, but also that of Melbourne, Espoo Cine, Transylvania and Guanajuato. However, it has particular significance for us in little old Southland – Borgman was raised in Invercargill and educated at our very own Otago University. It’s a film made by a New Zealander, about a New Zealander, that appeals to more than simply New Zealanders, and the latter is particularly difficult to achieve. The Weight of Elephants may be dark, but I feel Borgman captures the glimpse of hope it promises the audience wonderfully: “it’s about finding enough worth in yourself that you can keep moving.” So move along to Rialto and buy a ticket.