A STUDY GUIDE by MArguerite o’hArA http://www.metromagazine.com.au http://www.theeducationshop.com.au Animal Kingdom is an Australian drama about crime, but, unlike many dramatisations of crime seen on our screens, this film looks at the internal dynamics of one family – the Codys – and at the devastating consequences of their lifestyle and behaviours. Why study Animal Kingdom? his guide provides a framework for discussing and writing about Tthe ways in which this film is quite unlike many of the popular, recently screened television dramas about criminals, the police and the law. These are likely to have been watched by many students. Many popular crime dramas, such Curriculum links as the Underbelly series, have been Animal Kingdom is suitable for based on the Melbourne underworld’s senior and tertiary students studying activities in the 1990s and beyond. sad study of a family’s disintegration. Literature, Film as Text, Cinema Above all, it rings true. Studies, Screenwriting, Criminology The lives and deaths of many of these and Sociology. criminals have been represented in the All the elements of this film need to be Teachers of students under fifteen media and on film in a style that tends looked at carefully to understand why should be aware that the film is rated to glamorise them. They are presented Animal Kingdom stands out from the MA 15+ for its depiction of drug use, as celebrities whose activities are pack. violence and use of strong language. as colourful and exciting as they are The film runs for 112 minutes. violent and destructive. Their lives The film recently won the World are often represented as being very Cinema Grand Jury Prize at the 2010 attractive – one big round of parties, Sundance Film Festival and has re- gorgeous women, drugs, wealth and ceived very positive reviews wherever celebrity followed by a spectacular fu- it has screened, both in Australia and neral that features on the nightly news. overseas. This guide encourages students to Creating the ‘kingdom’ look closely at how and why this film is quite unlike many films and television In defining the elements of a filmed series about the world of crime. Ani- story, Robert McKee, author of mal Kingdom explores what it might Story, a classic guide to screenwrit- be like to be part of a dysfunctional ing, says: SCREEN EDUCATION family, what it means to be in witness protection and how violence becomes A beautifully told story is a sym- a way of life and gathers up the naive phonic unity in which structure, and innocent in its web. While it is setting, genre, and idea meld seam- quite different in its approach and style lessly. To find their harmony, the to Underbelly, it is an enthralling, sus- writer must study the elements of penseful and ultimately devastatingly story as if they were instruments of 2 an orchestra – first separately, then in Armed robber Andrew ‘Pope’ Cody And into this world arrives their concert.1 (Ben Mendelsohn) is in hiding, on the nephew, Joshua ‘J’ Cody (James run from a gang of renegade detec- Frecheville). Keep this statement in mind as you tives who want him dead. His business watch Animal Kingdom and discuss partner and best friend, Barry ‘Baz’ Following the death of his mother, J the questions raised in the student Brown (Joel Edgerton) wants out of finds himself living with his hitherto es- activities. They are organised under a the game, recognising that their days tranged family and under the watchful number of sub-sections focussing on of old-school banditry are all but over. eye of his doting grandmother, Smurf script, performances, direction and the Pope’s younger brother, the speed- (Jacki Weaver), mother to the Cody technical elements of the film that are addicted and volatile Craig Cody (Sul- boys. so crucial to its success. livan Stapleton), is making a fortune in the illicit substances trade – the J comes to realise that he is a player Synopsis true cash cow of the modern criminal in this world simply because he is a fraternity – while the youngest Cody member of the family. But, as he soon Welcome to the Melbourne under- brother, Darren (Luke Ford), naively discovers, this world is far larger and world, where tensions are building navigates his way through this criminal more menacing than he could ever between dangerous criminals and world – the only world his family has imagine. equally dangerous police. It’s the Wild ever known. West, played out on the city’s streets. When tensions between family and police reach a bloody peak, J finds himself at the centre of a cold-blooded PrinciPal cast and crew of AnimAl Kingdom revenge plot that turns the family up- side down, and which also threatens Cast Crew to ensnare innocent bystanders such Joshua (J): James Frecheville Writer/director: David Michôd as his girlfriend Nicky (Laura Wheel- wright). Andrew (Pope) Cody: Ben Mendelsohn Producer: Liz Watts Craig Cody: Sullivan Stapleton Cinematographer: Adam Arkapaw One senior cop, Nathan Leckie (Guy Pearce), must lure J into the police Darren Cody: Luke Ford Editor: Luke Doolan fold and then shepherd him through a Smurf Cody: Jacki Weaver Production designer: Jo Ford complex minefield of witness protec- tion, corrupt cops, slippery lawyers Barry (Baz) Brown: Joel Edgerton Composer: Antony Partos and a paranoid and vengeful under- world. Detective Senior Sergeant Nathan Leckie: Guy Pearce Sound designer: Sam Petty SCREEN EDUCATION Ezra White: Dan Wyllie Costume designer: Cappi Ireland J comes to realise that in order to sur- vive he must determine how the game Detective Randall Roache: Justin Rosniak Casting: Kirsty McGregor is played; he must somehow work out Nicky Henry: Laura Wheelwright where he fits in this cunning and brutal animal kingdom. 3 I wanted to make a sprawling, Australian crime story that was multi-layered … with an ensemble cast that was representative of the way in which the criminal world filters through regular society and brushes against us constantly, even though we don’t realise it. DAviD MiChôD, DireCtor activities of these people are often a. scriPt and direction presented. • Authenticity of voice is a crucial What makes a good script and how element in representing how crucial is it to the strength of a film? characters speak and behave. As most of us do not live in a criminal What are the main differences be- milieu, how do we judge authen- tween: ticity of voice and characters in a film? Were you convinced that 1. A script for a play to be performed the way people speak and behave in a theatre in Animal Kingdom was real and 2. A script for a film or television pro- believable? gram that is adapted from a novel Michôd also says that he wanted the • How are anxiety, menace, threat 3. An original script for a screenplay? film to be a fictionalised account of and fear shown by characters? how these people live because he was Give some examples from the film David Michôd wrote and directed reluctant to engage in the culture of where such emotions are con- Animal Kingdom. turning criminals into celebrities. veyed wordlessly. • Name any films you have seen Michôd’s script evolved over nine For Melburnians, this tendency to recently where you were im- years. While living in Melbourne, he make celebrities of criminals, even if pressed by the quality of the followed newspaper reports about the it is mostly watching them at funerals script, whether it was the dialogue local crime scene. He explains why he on television or making court appear- or other story elements. Bear in wanted to make a movie about this ances, will be quite familiar. mind that a strong script can have world and the people who inhabit it: minimal dialogue, and use mostly • Share any knowledge you have of visual elements to tell a story, e.g. I wanted to make a sprawling, Austral- the events in Melbourne in the last Warwick Thornton’s award-winning ian crime story that was multi-layered twenty years and how they have 2009 film Samson and Delilah has … with an ensemble cast that was been depicted on screen. very little dialogue but deservedly representative of the way in which the • Describe some of the images of won the AFI award for Best Origi- criminal world filters through regular criminals that appear quite regular- nal Screenplay in 2009. society and brushes against us con- ly in newspapers and on television. • In any drama, silences are just as stantly, even though we don’t realise it. What are they often shown to be important as what people say. Few doing in these very public appear- people are speechmakers, able or I wanted to comprehend how people ances? inclined to sum up how they feel. live lives like these where the stakes • When stories involving the ac- How does inarticulateness and are so high, where making mistakes tivities of the so-called Melbourne silence work in this film? Which of SCREEN EDUCATION can mean the difference between underworld are turned into televi- the central characters in the film life or death or freedom or incarcera- sion drama, what is the impression are the most articulate and which tion, where a whole level of society created of the kind of lives these are less able to express what they operates just below what we know as criminals lead? Choose five words may be feeling? How do the char- moral and correct. to characterise how the lives and acters display their emotions, or 4 • How does J’s voiceover account of his family heard in the early scenes of the film provide a context for what happens? • Describe J’s introduction to the Cody household.