Sweet Country
Samuel Goldwyn Films | Release Date: April 6, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
87
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Washington PostAlan ZilbermanApr 17, 2018
This shrewdly observed story asks another question: Is civilization possible in a nation where discrimination has such deep roots? In Sweet Country, the answer arrives with a tough fatalism. Read full review
100
VarietyGuy LodgeApr 2, 2018
The spare, classical chase drama that ensues is seeded with barbed observations on colonialism, cultural erasure and rough justice, kept poetically succinct by Thornton’s lithe, soaring visual storytelling. Read full review
100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorApr 2, 2018
The story is both fresh and archetypal; the landscape both hard and delicate – and beautifully observed. Memories and premonitions are intriguingly inserted into the action and the performances...are note perfect. Read full review
100
The GuardianPeter BradshawApr 2, 2018
This is fiercely powerful storytelling, simple and muscular in one way, but also conveying nuance and sophistication in its depiction of character. Read full review
100
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMar 29, 2018
Sweet Country is tough, spare and lyrical right down to the bone.... It is also a work of moral conscience that rules out easy answers, with acridly funny moments of black comedy and a sense of awesome natural spectacle that is inseparable from its dramatic impact. It has a power that makes the cinema shake. Read full review
91
The PlaylistJessica KiangApr 2, 2018
Sweet Country is unmistakably a western in iconography and spare, taciturn tone, but it is also an incendiary slave narrative, in which the poetry of the filmmaking can barely contain a simmering fury and disgust at this most shameful of human institutions. Read full review
90
Village VoiceApril WolfeApr 5, 2018
Thornton delicately peels back all the layers of Aussie injustice in this film, but what’s most unnerving is that the story proves to be so universal. Read full review
90
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisApr 5, 2018
The director Warwick Thornton constructs a searing indictment of frontier racism as remarkable for its sonic restraint as its visual expansiveness. Read full review
90
Screen DailyLee MarshallApr 2, 2018
One of the many pleasures of this understated drama is its slow-burn magnetism and lack of flashy genre posturing. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnApr 5, 2018
While Sweet Country snakes along to an inevitable outcome, Thornton retains a sharp control over the movie’s ravishing visuals, assembling them with a rhythmic quality that transcends any specific time and place. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Apr 2, 2018
Poetically directed by Warwick Thornton, whose Samson & Delilah also threw a spotlight over aboriginal characters, Sweet Country has a shaggy, digressive eccentricity common to Ozploitation cinema, not to mention a humane understanding of its characters. Read full review
83
The Film StageChristopher Schobert
Thornton establishes himself as a director to watch, and with fine performances from Neill, Brown, Gorey-Furber, and, especially, Hamilton Morris, also reveals an ability to make an epic tale feel deeply personal. Read full review
80
Time OutNick DentApr 9, 2018
A chase movie becomes an outdoor courtroom drama, and Thornton wrings from this fable of rough frontier justice a statement from the heart. Australia now has its "High Noon." Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranApr 5, 2018
While many familiar tropes are present, including murder, mayhem, a tough lawman and a tentative posse, Thornton uses them to tell a 20th century outback story and offer sharp, pointed commentary on relations between whites and indigenous peoples. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyApr 2, 2018
In terms of its visual command, the movie could hardly be more expressive. Read full review
80
CineVueJohn BleasdaleApr 2, 2018
Sweet Country is a hoarsely angry film, a powerful denunciation of the racism and violence on which modern Australia was eventually founded. Read full review
80
Total FilmJordan FarleyMar 29, 2018
The beauty of Alice Springs offers a profound contrast with the ugly acts committed by its inhumane colonists. Read full review
80
EmpireIan FreerMar 12, 2018
Sweet Country is epic and personal, daring to tell a simple story in a challenging, arresting way. It’s a demanding two hours but leavened by great performances, especially from newcomer Hamilton Morris. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenApr 11, 2018
Despite its reliance on some overworked symbolism, the screenplay by David Tranter and Steven McGregor is smart. However, the intercut flash-forwards and flashbacks do little to aid our understanding or appreciation of the story, and seem like artistic frippery. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyApr 6, 2018
This is a movie of visuals first and foremost; it’s no fluke that director Warwick Thornton shared cinematography duties with Dylan River. In addition to capturing stunning images, Thornton has a sleight-of-hand maestro’s joy in shuffling and fanning them. Lightning-fast cuts to flashbacks and flash-forwards keep the viewer on his or her toes in a bracing fashion. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineDerek SmithApr 2, 2018
The film is a meticulous examination of how the dehumanization of Australia's native population bred an environment of cyclical violence and mistrust. Read full review
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