Healing (2014)

April 3, 2014 (AU) • Drama • 112m

Overview

Viktor Kahdem is a man who has almost given up on life, sentenced to a low-security prison farm, a completely non-threatening environment where it is still felt that some individuals can be reformed. At Won Wron, Case Worker Matt Perry has established a unique program to rehabilitate broken men through giving them the responsibility for the rehabilitation of injured raptors - beautiful, fearsome proud eagles, falcons and owls. Against all odds, Matt takes on Viktor as his number one test case, introducing him to Yasmine, the majestic wedge tailed eagle with a 2 metre wingspan. If these two can tame each other, anything is possible.

Director

Craig Monahan

Writers

Alison Nisselle, Craig Monahan

Top Billed

Hugo Weaving

Keywords

eagle prison guard prison visit shame aviary prison farm owl

Where to watch

Check streaming options on TMDB

Top Billed Cast

Hugo Weaving

Senior Officer Matt Perry

Don Hany

Viktor Khadem

Xavier Samuel

Paul Atherton

Mark Leonard Winter

Shane Harrison

Jane Menelaus

Glenys Holmes

Justine Clarke

Michelle

Laura Brent

Stacey

Robert Taylor

Vander

Anthony Hayes

Warren

Dimitri Baveas

Yousef

Richard Taylor Stables

Ted

Tony Martin

Egan

Harry Tseng

Dave

Crew

Alison Nisselle

Writer

Craig Monahan

Producer

Craig Monahan

Director

Craig Monahan

Writer

Tait Brady

Producer

Beth Halsted

Makeup & Hair

Emma Bortignon

Dialogue Editor

Craig Carter

Sound Designer

Pip Wright

Visual Effects Production Manager

Damien M. Grant

First Assistant Director

Erin Lander

Second Assistant Director

John Wilkinson

Production Sound Mixer

Jeanie Cameron

Costume Designer

Brett Anderson

Stunt Coordinator

Ernie Clark

Second Unit Director of Photography

Hayes Brien

Graphic Designer

Carly Turner

First Assistant Editor

Peter Hoyland

Music Coordinator

Alex Stitt

Title Designer

Andrew Lesnie

Director of Photography

Gemma Reynolds

Makeup & Hair

Richard S. Guardian

Executive Producer

Paul Kiely

Script Supervisor

Julian Dimsey

Visual Effects Supervisor

Leslie Binns

Production Design

Helen Magelakis

Key Makeup Artist

Zlatko Kasumovic

Art Direction

Faith Martin

Casting

Kate Seeley

Costume Supervisor

Raffaela Calluzi

Art Department Coordinator

Suresh Ayyar

Editor

Andrew Neil

Sound Mixer

David Hirschfelder

Original Music Composer

Ineke Majoor

Visual Effects Producer

Robin Gray

Score Engineer

Amanda Wray

Production Coordinator

Pippa Sheen

Post Production Supervisor

Carly Turner

Post Production Coordinator

Reviews

John Chard

⭐ 8/10

March 29, 2015

Birdman of Won Wron Correctional Centre.

Right from the very first scene I knew this was going to be a special type of prison film. Mother nature in all her glory, a bird of prey elegantly gliding through the air in pursuit of its target, then bam! Trapped in a fence, cut to a prison van, a prisoner menacingly staring down a frightened young man, himself trapped, but a wise old bird of years and years of incarceration experience sidles up alongside the youngster, about to take him under his protective wing. The healing of the title begins, for man, boy and creatures, a metaphor heavy narrative that thankfully is beautifully written and portrayed.

Directed by Craig Monahan, who also co-writes the screenplay with Alison Nisselle, this Australian film stars Hugo Weaving, Don Hany, Xavier Samuel and Mark Leonard Winter. Music is by David Hirschfelder and cinematography by Andrew Lesnie. Story follows a small group of prisoners working in a penal system approved rehabilitation of injured birds of prey programme. But outside of this harmonious circle lay differing problems, bully boy cons trying to muscle in with their poison, and then there is serrated family ties outside the prison gates that seem impossible to be healed...

Throughout the pic there are broken beings, inmates, creatures and wardens, all in need of redemption or a restart in life. There's a lot going in the story as such, but it all makes for a gratifying whole because the makers have taken their time to build the characters. Tech credits are excellent, with the performances of the lead actors leading from the front. Weaving giving high end professionalism as the emotionally troubled main guard is something of a given, while Samuel (The Loved Ones) looks like he is about to build himself a worthwhile career.

The film, however, in human form belongs to Hany, who gets the plum role of Iranian Viktor Khadem, the old lag who is the centre of the story. His accent sometimes sounds more South African than Iranian, but his ability to say so much with pained visual ticks and a becalmed delivery of crucial dialogue really cements the heart of the story's worth.

Elsewhere, Lesnie's wide angled photography does justice to the surroundings when the story goes outside of the prison walls into the outback, and of course the grace of the birds is given appropriate splendour. Which leads to bird trainer Andrew Payne, who along with editor Suresh Ayya, deserves a mighty pat on the back for ensuring that Healing is beating a true heart from all standpoints.

This is a lovely film waiting to be discovered by grown ups who are able to get involved with the thematic beats of the story and accept its deliberate pacing in the process. 8/10

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Healing (2014)

Alison Nisselle, Craig Monahan

Where to watch

Top Billed Cast

Crew

Reviews

John Chard

Recommended Movies

The Angry Birds Movie

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

The Eagle

The Hobbit

Status

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