A bloody good title has a bloody good movie to back it up in the awe-inspiring indie western This Bloody Country, written and directed by Craig Packard. In 1869, preacher Josiah Ballard (Larry Cedar) is sent on a mission by the Church to the Arizona territory to spread the word in a settlement being built there. Shortly after Josiah and his wives and children leave Salt Lake City, his son dies, the only child of his wife Lilith (Maggie Gwin), who is sick with consumption.
After a simple frontier funeral, Josiah has Lilith and his other two wives, Martha (Cameron Meyer), his first, and Abigail (Rainey Qualley), his newest, make food for everybody, including Ned Campbell (Martin Dingle Wall), the Australian rifleman the Church paid to protect the family on their journey. When Josiah complains about beans again for supper, Ned takes Josiah’s younger brother, Nate (Jacob Ward), out to teach him how to shoot game. Later, in their tent after a proper meal of hot rabbit, the youngest little girl, Charity (Georgia Coles), gets scared by the sounds of coyotes.
The middle daughter, Hope (Brookelyn Lindley), tells Charity not to fret, as coyotes are cowardly. However, the eldest daughter, Sarah (Zipporah Cardozo), tells Charity to fret plenty, because when coyotes pack up with each other, they then fear nothing. Soon, the travelers are visited by something much more dangerous than coyotes. Three strange men approach their camp, acting very friendly but all the time eyeing the little girls with bad intent…
“Preacher Josiah Ballard is sent on a mission by the Church to the Arizona territory to spread the word.”
Like I mentioned above, there was no way I was going to miss a movie named This Bloody Country. That’s the kind of movie where if you see it on a marquee during lunch, you pull over and go in, not showing back up for your job that day. Packard makes sure this ruthless ride more than lives up to the promise of the title.
He gets down to the core of the call of the West, where only the untamed can help the civilized survive in an untamed frontier. When the rules of society no longer apply, only those who were already disobeying know how to get around. Having Ned be Australian increases his outlaw credentials, as he has come from one wild country to another.
Packard emphasizes the futility of rigid piousness in the face of those who have embraced the unholy extremes of a lawless land. There is also focus on how civilization is only achieved in the badlands by those who are barely good themselves. It also shows how women were able to change the rules placed upon them by picking up guns.
"…one of the most scenically stunning motion pictures ever made, western and otherwise."
