Nitram

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🎙️ EPISODE 691: 04.11.23 EDITOR'S NOTE: In the podcast, I called "Nitram" an anagram of "Martin" (as in Martin Bryant, convicted shooter responsible for the Port Arthur massacre, whose life this film is based on), but it's just "Martin" spelt backwards, so while still technically an anagram, I just wanted to point that out so you don't think I'm an idiot. (Although, the fact that a squirrel reviewing movies could ever be considered "an idiot" is a laughable idea on principle.) Right off the bat, while I understand that the very existence of a movie like this seems exploitative and or uncouth or [insert grievance], I choose not to take part in that debate. It's not out of a lack of empathy — maybe apathy perhaps, insomuch as I see these things as inevitable. Look at the endless barrage of serial killer content. There's something fascinating about taking a look at these monsters' backstories. Some are cheap and/or poorly made, and others — like this — are not.

Furthermore, I think it's OK to feel some sympathy towards the perpetrators of these atrocities. It doesn't make you a bad person. I suppose there was some legal reason they couldn't use the real names in this, but this is otherwise a straight-up biopic, concentrating on the 4-5 years leading up to the crime. And Caleb Landry Jones does evoke, or attempt to evoke the audience's sympathy in the role of "Nitram." The nature vs. nurture debate seems unwinnable (how is it ever not some combination of both?) but the desire to know, to somehow understand why something like this could happen is real, and very human. The choice not to film the actual massacre is the right one; it's unnecessary, and where so many of these films and TV shows ultimately fail. Overall, I thought this was one of the more compelling and thoughtful renderings of a subject such as this. Credit to director Justin Kurzel (perhaps best known for the video game adaptation of Assassin's Creed), writer Shaun Grant, the fantastic Jones and the rest of the main cast for that.

I did take some issue with the postscript title cards addressing the Australian gun laws enacted in the wake of this, the final of which states that despite them, there are more guns in the country now than there were in 1996. Not debating the accuracy of the statement (or getting into a fight about homicide rates, etc.), but the fact that there hasn't been a mass shooting event of this nature since Port Arthur was ignored. I guess the point of it is to address that there's always more we could be doing? Obviously, as an American (Squirrelerican), the issue is even more alive and pressing and, sadly, seemingly unfixable.

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 690 - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 692 ⫸

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Nitram is a 2021 Australian biographical psychological drama film directed by Justin Kurzel from a screenplay by Shaun Grant. The film revolves around the life and behaviors of a mentally distressed young man called "Nitram" (based on Martin Bryant), and the events leading to his involvement in the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania, Australia. The film stars Caleb Landry Jones, Judy Davis, Essie Davis and Anthony LaPaglia. It was released on July 16, 2021.