Unfinished Sky

Adopted from the Dutch drama The Polish Bride (De Poolse Bruid), Unfinished Sky was originally the story of a Polish woman who moved into Holland after the fall of the Berlin Wall, pursuing prostitution in order to finance the daughter she had left back at home. In Australian version, rewritten by Peter Duncan (Children of the Revolution), the same Dutch actress, Monic Hendrickx, returns to play the heroine, but now she is an Afghani refugee called Tahmeena, who has fallen into a desperate set of circumstances in a small Queensland town. The film opens as Tahmeena, bruised, bleeding and hysterical, wanders onto the property of the withdrawn farmer John Woldring (William McInnes). Fortunately, John fears police more than he fears strangers, and so he keeps the strange woman a secret. As he slowly brings her back to life, they communicate through an endless game of charades and mumblings, and Tahmeena’s Dari is not sub-titled, so we experience the frustration of miscommunication right alongside him. This continues, until gradually (and predictably) Tahmeena and John find that their connection exceeds the limitations of language.

The fact that this Dutch story could so easily be transformed for an Australian audience raises some interesting points about our world’s shared experience of globalisation, and the universality of human connection. Sadly, the film is ill-equipped to deal with such meaningful messages. Yes, there are some lovely moments in the film (the chemistry between Tahmeena and John feels genuine), and certainly these are important and topical themes. It’s also refreshing to see McInnes to take on a new role (not the fast-talking journalist for once), and actually deliver a convincing performance as the stoic farmer. Beyond Tahmeena and John’s enthralling connection, however, the film feels cheap, as if underdeveloped. The secondary characters are all flat caricatures, the dialogue often feels contrived and stilted, and the inclusion of so many arbitrary flashbacks serves only to belittle Tahmeena’s traumatic past. With each new scene, the plot grows more and more unbelievable – watch out for Tahmeena’s almost instant grasp of English! When you’re noticing inconsistencies like that, you know the film has made a mistake somewhere along the line.

Rating: 6.0