The Tracker

Plot

1922, somewhere in Australia. An Aboriginal man is accused of murdering a white woman, and three white men (The Fanatic, The Follower and The Veteran) are on a mission to capture him with the help of an experienced Native man (The Tracker).

As they travel through the rugged Australian outback, each suffers under the stern hand and racist attitude of The Fanatic, who will stop at nothing to bring the accused to justice, even if that means sacrificing the others to reach the goal.

Meanwhile, the motives of the tracker remain elusive, and despite their relentless pursuit the men always seem to be a half-day behind their quarry.

After the death of one of the men, and a surprise mutiny, what endgame awaits for the group, and the enigmatic Tracker to which they have entrusted their survival.

Cast

Production

The film was shot in the semi-arid, rugged Arkaroola Sanctuary, in South Australia's Flinders Ranges. De Heer used an intentionally small film crew, saying that “It's all a much better process ...”. The film is intercut with paintings by Peter Coad which portray brutal actions not shown, while the lyrics of the soundtrack (written by De Heer) form part of the narrative, and are sung by Archie Roach with music composed by Graham Tardif.

Receptions

Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes assessed the film at 88% on its tomatometers with an average 7.1/10 rating. Renowned film critic Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four calling the film "haunting" and the performances "powerful". David Stratton described the film as "remarkable".