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. • Explain how J is shown to be a young man, yet still a boy, in the way he looks and behaves. • What do we see and hear of the dynamics of the Cody household when J first enters this world? Describe the roles of his uncles and grandmother in how the family operates. Where does power lie? lack of feelings, in several scenes • How does Smurf, J’s grandmother, with absolutely minimal dialogue? embrace J as another ‘boy’ in her family of men? The demands of • What is the first instance in which direction we see J becoming caught up in the volatile aggression of one of Having worked on the script for so the brothers? long, Michôd would have had a clear • Describe the scene at the Chinese sense of how he wanted the actors restaurant where J and Nicky, his to play the characters in this story, as girlfriend, as well as the staff, are well as a strong vision of how the film subjected to the way the Cody should look in order to reflect the lives boys routinely behave. Is either J of these people living in Melbourne in or Nicky able to resist their bully- the recent past. Barry ‘Baz’ Brown is Pope’s ‘busi- ing? ness partner’ and Joshua (or J) is the • ‘Loyalty to family and friends’ is Guy Pearce, who plays Leckie, has seventeen-year-old nephew of the part of the Cody family’s code of said of the film’s style: Cody brothers who comes to live with behaviour. Are there limits to loy- the family after the death of his moth- alty in families? Why should J be This film has a very particular style to it er. The decisions made by different expected to display loyalty to the – it’s about the potential energy, rather characters propel the action. It is their Codys? What loyalty do they show than the kinetic, it’s what’s sitting there choices and actions that determine him? under the surface that really allows the the outcome, though some of their • Identify the moment in the film audience to go – wow, what would this decisions are reactive and instinctive when J sees clearly the callous- be like if I was in that situation? rather than consciously thought out. ness of the family’s behaviour and the lengths to which they will go to The director is ultimately responsible J is at the heart of the story, though protect themselves. for how all the film’s elements work to- he is never really ‘at home’ with his • What are Nicky and her family able gether to convey his vision. However, uncles and grandmother. to offer J? the contribution of all other members • ‘You know you’re not alone, right?’ of the cast and crew are crucial to Characters and (Pope to J). Who is looking out for bringing it all together in line with the performances J? director’s vision. In this film, perform- • ‘You can’t choose your family.’ Did ances are especially strong in creating Joshua ‘J’ Cody is played by J have any choices about where tension. seventeen-year-old James and how he would live after his
Frecheville. mother’s death? SCREEN EDUCATION B. Members of the • How did you respond to J as ‘kingdom’ Kids just are wherever they are and the film developed? Discuss the they just do whatever they’re do- final scenes in the film after J has The family consists of Smurf (the Cody ing … This is where I was and this is returned to the family house. boys’ mother) and her three sons, what I was doing … this was just the Andrew (or ‘Pope’), Craig and Darren. world I got thrown into. – J 5 Andrew ‘Pope’ Cody is played by Ben Mendelsohn.
‘It’s a crazy fuckin’ world.’– Pope to J
• In an early scene in the film when Pope makes a ‘surprise’ visit to his home from where he has been hiding out from the police, what is revealed about his character and in his discussion with partner Baz about the activities and intentions of the armed robbery squad? • How does Ben Mendelsohn convey Pope’s increasing fear and paranoia in his performance? • In a famous essay about Adolf Eichmann’s trial for war crimes, writer Hannah Arendt uses the phrase ‘the banality of evil’ to characterise much of the Nazis’ behaviour. How is the menac- ing banality of Pope’s behaviour shown in the way he attempts to engage with other members of his family? (For example, look at the scene where he is asking J to identify the cricketer on television. What does he also ask J in this • What does the disjointed nature scene?) of Pope’s attempts at connecting • Explain how Pope bullies and con- with people – in the scene where trols his younger brother Darren. he is asking J about the cricketer • How is actor Guy Pearce’s com- on television or when he insinuates ment about ‘potential energy … to Darren that he thinks his brother below the surface’ shown in Men- might be gay – reveal about his delsohn’s performance as Pope? frayed mental state? How does he make an appar- • Does Pope ever show any finer ently simple act such as carrying a qualities that might suggest he has Barry ‘Baz’ Brown is played by sleeping Nicky to bed seem quite any capacity to empathise with oth- Joel Edgerton. menacing and chilling? ers? Mate, I dunno what you’re think- ing about your future and that, but I’m about done with this shit. I need some sort of change … Our game, it’s over, mate. It’s getting too hard. – Baz to Pope
• Barry ‘Baz’ Brown, Pope‘s associ- ate in crime, has different priorities these days. How is his home life different to that of the Cody boys?
• What is the ‘career change’ he SCREEN EDUCATION suggests to Pope? How does Pope respond? • What makes the scene where Baz tells his wife he is going to meet up with Pope so poignant in the context of what happens to him? • How is Baz different to the Cody 6 brothers? • What is Smurf’s role in the lives of her boys? • What does her nickname sug- gest about the image she likes to project? • How do we first become aware of her role as a ‘fixer’ in this world? • What kind of traditional maternal qualities does Smurf show? How would she be described by her neighbours? • How would you characterise the • How does Edgerton convey a • What is his role within the family? kind of closeness and physical af- sense of being a more grounded • Describe his demeanour and ap- fection she demonstrates towards individual than the Cody boys? proach to life. her adult children? • How does Darren illustrate the • Does she love her children and Craig Cody is played by damaging results of Smurf’s ‘infan- grandson? Sullivan Stapleton. tilising’ of her sons? • As the story develops, the manipu- • Describe what happens in some lative side of Smurf is revealed. ‘My uncle Craig moved really fast, of the scenes where his inability to Describe the two scenes involv- like he was trying to stay in front of resist or intervene in the behaviour ing police at opposite ends of something.’ – J of Pope is most damaging? the moral spectrum in which she shows her true colours and her ‘I don’t know what’s going on Rich. I Janine ‘Smurf’ Cody is played belief in her own powers. don’t know what’s going on mate.’ by Jacki Weaver. • Is the character of Smurf, as – Craig to Richard in Bendigo played by Jacki Weaver, a great ‘I’m having trouble finding my posi- dramatic creation of absolute evil • Identify some of the scenes in which tive spin. I’m usually very good at it.’ in the style of Shakespeare’s Lady Craig Cody’s aggression is shown – Smurf to Pope to be compounded by his particular choice of criminal activities. • What are his connections with some members of the police? • How is his inability to think through his situation shown in the scene at his mate’s property? • How is he a different kind of crimi- nal to Baz and Pope?
Darren Cody is played by
Luke Ford. SCREEN EDUCATION
‘Mate, everything has got to do with everyone! Don’t you fucking under- stand that?’ – Darren to J
• As the youngest of the brothers, what does Darren do in the family 7 business? Lawyers and cops
‘They want him gone mate, they don’t think anything they’ve done is gonna stand in court. So they wanna put him off themselves.’ – Roache, a corrupt cop, to Craig • How is the witness protection scheme shown to be a flawed Lawyers, cops and criminals are system for protecting witnesses? Macbeth, or is she insufficiently sometimes ‘in cahoots’. Many power- aware of the devastation she ful criminals have needed the assist- Responding to characters presides over to be a figure with ance of people charged with uphold- whom the audience can empa- ing the law (police and lawyers) to • Are the characters in this film rep- thise? retain their power. As recent events resented sympathetically? Do they and any number of royal commissions change and grow over time or are Detective Senior Sergeant into police corruption show, police can their characters essentially static? Nathan Leckie is played by be bribed; they can be complicit in not Which of them display qualities, Guy Pearce. pursuing particular criminals, or they whether attractive or frightening, can be over-zealous in getting rid of that you recognise? With which of ‘Have you worked out where you fit?’ certain criminals by taking the law into these characters do you sym- – Leckie to J their own hands. pathise? Do you feel ambivalent about any of the characters? • How does Leckie speak to J when • Which police squad/division is he is being interviewed at police shown to be especially trigger- Awards headquarters? happy in this drama? • In what sense does he see himself • Which squads do the corrupt There are several very strong perform- as a mentor and even a father fig- police in the story belong to? ances in this film. Which of the princi- ure to J? Identify any of the scenes • How is the ‘good cop, bad cop’ pals in the cast would you nominate where his behaviour towards J is situation shown in several places for an outstanding performance award shown in this light. in this film? – Jacki Weaver, Ben Mendelsohn, • In what ways is his role in the film • What kind of corrupt practices are James Frecheville or Guy Pearce? an important contrast to the ways police and lawyers shown to be in which other police are repre- engaged in during the film? Why is • Write a 200-word piece outlin- sented? corruption in bodies charged with ing what you see as the major
• Is he just another person looking upholding laws and maintaining strengths in the performance of the SCREEN EDUCATION to gain control of J for his own pur- public order so poisonous in any actor you have chosen. poses or is he shown to be acting society? • Select two scenes that could be from more complex motives? • How is Ezra, the Cody family’s law- shown at an awards ceremony that yer, shown to be complicit in what best demonstrate what you have happens? said in your recommendation. 8 C. The language of Animal Kingdom
Speeches and silences
What people say in this film, how they speak and the context in which they speak are crucial to our responses to the characters. J is quietly articulate sometimes and at other times with- drawn and wary, but this is represented in his demeanour and body language as much as in what he says. Even if they were having to do what crooks do all the time, which While this is not a film that depends on is block out the thing they must memorable speeches from the central know … which is that crooks characters for its impact, there are three always come undone. Always. extended monologues (they could be One way or another … At this time described as speeches) that stand … the armed robbery squad was out for the insights they provide into out of control. They were shoot- the person speaking as well as for the ing guys willy-nilly and getting central truths about motivation, power- away with it … the guy they really lessness and manipulation that they ar- wanted was my uncle Andrew ticulate. They also work to advance the (Pope). narrative in sometimes quite complex and unexpected ways. • How does this part clearly establish where the heart of 1. J’s voice-over monologue reveals this film will be? his perceptions about the criminal • How is J’s voice-over broken world he is entering. up and its truth illustrated by what the director shows us as Mum kept me away from her J discovers the realities of daily family because she was scared. life at his grandmother’s house? You know what the bush is about? I didn’t realise it at the time but • Why is ‘showing’ rather than It’s about massive trees that’ve they were all scared, even if they ‘telling’ in film and literature usu- been standing there for thousands didn’t show it. I think even Barry ally a much more powerful tech- of years and bugs that’ll be dead Brown was scared. Even though he nique? Describe some scenes in before the minute’s out. It’s big never showed it. Everyone felt safe the film where ‘showing’ rather trees and pissy little bugs. And around Baz. He’d punch your head than ‘telling’ is used to propel everything knows its place in the off if you got in the way. If he was the narrative and engage the scheme of things … everything sits
in the middle of an armed rob and audience. in the order somewhere. Things SCREEN EDUCATION … you got between him and the survive because they’re strong and door he’d put you on the ground 2. Outside the ‘safe house’ motel everything reaches an understand- and not think twice about it. unit, Detective Senior Sergeant ing. But not everything survives be- Leckie explains to J ‘the order of cause it’s strong. Some creatures She [Smurf] just seemed to want things’ in an attempt to get him to are weak, but they survive because to be wherever the boys were. break the code of silence he has they’ve been protected by the And she just wanted to be around been persuaded to adopt. strong for one reason or another. 9 whatever the boys were doing. You may think that because of the circles that you move in or what- ever, that you’re one of the strong creatures. But you’re not. You’re one of the weak ones … because you’re young. But you’ve survived because you’ve been protected by the lawyers. the strong. But they’re not strong • What does this scene show anymore and they’re certainly not about the tangled web that can able to protect you. be woven between police, law- yers and their clients? … Now I know that they’re saying • How is her use of the word to you that talking to me is betray- you know how these things go. ‘sweetie’ laden with menace? ing the family, but they’ve betrayed They’re gonna ask him all sorts of you … the fact that you’ve been questions, about everything he’s D. The look and style left to deal with us, it’s all the ever seen or done. Everyone he’s of the film proof that you need. And you’re in ever met. The whole shemozzle. danger. And you’ve done some bad things, While authenticity of dialogue and sweetie, haven’t you? I want this performances are crucial to how we • Does this metaphor about the part to be clear, this is not about respond to any film, it is the melding of strong and weak of the bush you doing me a favour or me the other elements – sometimes called resonate with you as an appro- blackmailing you or anything like technical aspects or production values priate parallel for J’s situation? that. It’s just a bad situation for – that really make a film convincing. • What do Leckie and J not know everyone. Ezra’s got the address. They need to be authentic and appro- at this point in the film that we It shouldn’t be too hard to set up a priate for us to be convinced that this know? How does this affect how raid on the house. There’d be rea- situation is ‘real’. we might respond to the advice sonable grounds … Just because being offered to J? we don’t want to do this doesn’t Settings, locations, • Is J able to understand what is mean it can’t be done. costume and production being offered to him in relation to design his belonging to his family? • Did this move by Smurf to take • Why are real choices not avail- control of the situation surprise We did do our homework. We visited able to J? you? Melbourne’s Assessment Prison, • What is her primary motivation? because though it’s easy to write a 3. Grandma Smurf’s speech to • What is Smurf asking for and scene that’s set in such a place, when
Detective Randall Roache in the what threat does she use to get it comes to actually staging it, you SCREEN EDUCATION lawyer’s office about ‘cutting J what she wants? need to have been there. We visited loose’: • Does this scene reveal any quali- the Metropolitan Remand Centre and ties in Smurf that have not been had a tour of how contact and non- J’s gone. Whatever happens … this apparent earlier? contact visits work, and thereafter our boy who’s currently being looked • Describe the tone in which production designer, Jo Ford, was able after, he knows who you are. And Weaver delivers this request to to build the prison set which looked 10 exactly like the real thing … whenever this quite chilling? convey about this scene? we’d written something that was set • Is there anything exceptional about • Several popular songs are heard in an unfamiliar environment we would any of the domestic places where on the film’s soundtrack, such go visit them. – David Michôd people live, from the flat J shared as Air Supply’s ‘All Out of Love’ with his mother to the final scene and Dragon’s ‘April Sun in Cuba’. • Describe several of the outdoor at Smurf’s place where food is be- Other songs we hear are Jimmy locations where some of the action ing cooked on a barbecue? Cliff’s ‘Sitting in Limbo’ and Mental of the film takes place. How do • How does the intention to make as Anything’s ‘Berserk Warriors’. they suggest the range and reach things look real and natural trans- When do they offer a sometimes of criminal activity? late to the kind of lighting chosen, ironic commentary on the action • How is the Cody house shown to especially in many of the interior and mood and when do they pro- be both ordinary and suburban scenes? vide a poignant musical accompa- and yet confined and claustro- • How does the camerawork and niment to what we are seeing on phobic? Cooking, dogs, television lighting show the Codys as crea- screen? How does the Air Supply game shows, juicing, lying about tures of the night, hunting and song ‘All Out of Love’ work in on couches, barbecuing, bong scurrying about as they pick off the scene where J and Nicky are smoking – what do these things their prey, particularly in the violent sleeping at her house? suggest? revenge scene? • At several points in the film where • Which aspects of the Cody house many crime dramas would signal make it seem like an animal den? Soundtrack violence with deafening sounds of • What happens inside the Cody’s gunshots and screaming, this film world on a day-to-day basis? Are We tried to create and build suspense chooses silence. Describe when they able to move freely between using a few different techniques, and where this happens and how the inside and outside of their which hopefully weave together and it works on us as the audience wit- houses or is the opportunity to compound to move the audience – nessing the violence. Look at the have an ordinary rhythm to their from unease at the beginning to dread scene where the revenge shoot- daily lives limited and confining? by the second act, and to a release by ing happens and at the film’s final • ‘In the end I decided to buy eve- the end. – Sam Petty, sound designer scene. rything from opportunity shops.’ – Cappi Ireland, costume designer Overall the approach to the music was Editing What do the clothes people wear to create synthetic textures that would in this film reveal about their lives, take the place of an orchestra with- After shooting a film, directors often personalities and sense of who out trying to imitate the sound of an have much more footage than they they think they are? Describe how orchestra. – Antony Partos, composer can possibly include in a two-hour Smurf, the boys and Leckie are film. The job of putting the material dressed and what these details A film’s soundtrack is made up of together is that of an editor who usu- reveal about them. How are they sounds and music with composer ally works closely with the director to shown to be different to many of and sound designer working closely select the best possible scenes and the gangland figures shown on our to achieve complex moods. It’s worth takes in the best possible order, layer- television screens? closing your eyes at certain points in ing sounds, visuals and dialogue to this film to fully appreciate the com- create a total experience, a complete Cinematography and plex layers of this soundtrack. and complex world. lighting • Cities and suburbs are never silent • How does crosscutting and the David Michôd was concerned that places. What are some of the juxtaposing of different incidents the Melbourne seen in this film was ambient noises that make up the that are not known to all the char- not filled with tourist icons such as normal background soundtrack to acters create dramatic tension, ‘trams, Victorian architecture and cute our lives, such as J scraping burnt such as in the scenes with J and little village style suburbs’. Instead, he toast into the sink when Darren Leckie at the motel under wit- wanted cinematographer Adam Arka- returns home after the revenge ness protection, and when J is at paw to try to encompass the different scene? What do we hear in the Nicky’s house with her father and
sides of the city, from its quiet leafy early scenes that accompany J’s young brother? SCREEN EDUCATION suburbs and cityscapes to its stark monologue when he first comes to • How are the sudden movements industrial side. the Cody house? How are these from domestic calm to extreme sounds both familiar and menac- violence used in the film to sug- • How do some of the scenes shot ing? gest the frightening tightrope on in the suburbs create a sense of Listen to the sounds at the funeral which people are walking, as well naturalism and normality about scene when Pope and Craig are as the sheer mindless horror of where the Codys operate? Why is outside the church. What do they gun violence? 11 • Like many good dramas, this story • Apart from the fairly obvious Sequence 2 – Visiting is structured in three acts, each responses of ‘crime does not pay’ (1:07:46 – 1:11:12) one culminating in action that and ‘live by the sword, die by the changes the dynamic and tension sword’, what does this story reveal After J breaks up with Nicky, she visits of the following act. What do you about criminal behaviour and its the Cody boys. see as the crucial events that in- consequences, about moral choic- tensify the suspense of the drama es and what makes us human? • How does the lighting used in this and propel the narrative? • The film is framed by scenes of sequence suggest an animal den? • Which scenes did you find most J coming to this ‘kingdom’ and • How and when does the camera shocking and even chilling? being inexorably drawn into this focus closely on the faces of peo- • Discuss what the ending means to world. What is his tragedy? ple in this scene? you. Was what happened unex- • Describe Pope’s behaviour to- pected? What do you think the final E. Looking closely wards Nicky when she arrives? scene tells us about J and Smurf? at several scenes • How is Pope shown to be pre- pared to take advantage of her Tone To understand how the visual lan- vulnerability at this time? guage of this film works, it is important • Is Darren complicit in what hap- This family story plays out in what to look closely at some of the key pens? How is his impotence in sometimes looks like quite a familiar scenes to see how emotional impact is relation to Pope conveyed? and ordinary suburban world. The created. For each one, consider: outwardly normal setting makes the Sequence 3 – Getting a lift horror that takes place against it a) what we see and hear (1:19:00 – 1:23:00) even more dramatic and extreme; for b) how it either sets up, or advances example in the scene where there is a the narrative J goes to Nicky’s house but is warned violent death in a house in their street c) why the scene or sequence is by Darren to get out as Pope is on the and the neighbours express surprise, emotionally powerful. way. shock and horror. Each sequence referred to is time- • What does J probably know, or • What do you understand by the coded. at least strongly suspect, in this term ‘tone’ in relation to a film or scene? novel? Sequence 1 – Aftermath • What are some of the things the • How would you describe the tone (58:00 – 1:01:12) camera and J look at in the bath- of Animal Kingdom? room that make the reality of what • How does the mood of the film Craig Cody is dead and Pope is look- has happened to Nicky so poign- change as the narrative develops? ing for someone to blame. ant? What effect does this have on the • Identify some of the family activity film’s tone? • Describe how each of the three noises that background this scene. • How important are the individual characters – Smurf, Pope and • What does Nicky’s father not know performances of the principal J – are dealing with what has just when he drives J from the house? actors in ensuring that the tone of happened. • Why is the sound and impact of low-key menace remains consist- • Who does Pope blame for Craig’s the car crash so emotionally reso- ent throughout the drama? death? nant? • How is suspense created through • How is the lighting of the interior of the narrative structure? Identify at the house different from that of the Sequence 4 – Consequences least three scenes in the film which exterior (i.e. outside the front door, (1:23:36 – 1:24:40) you think best exemplify the film’s where Leckie stands)? tone. • What are the unspoken undercur- There are four very brief scenes in this • How are young people such as J rents that underpin the scene sequence that encapsulate the reality and his girlfriend Nicky, as well as where Detective Senior Sergeant of what has happened: Baz’s children, shown to be victims Leckie comes to the door? of criminal behaviour? • In this scene, what are some of the a) Leckie taking J into witness pro-
• ‘You can’t choose your family.’ Did constraints and conventions that tection SCREEN EDUCATION J have any choices about where Smurf, Pope and Leckie are each b) Nicky’s family in shock and despair and how he would live after his bound by in how they talk to one c) The arrest of Pope and Darren mother died? another? d) Smurf dunking her teabag as her sons are cuffed. 12 • What voices, sounds or music do All these films and television series Reviews and articles we hear in this sequence? have at their core an exploration of • How does the editing insist on the criminal behaviour within the personal There are a number of reviews of dimensions of the tragedy for all and social context in which it occurs. Animal Kingdom accessible online, these individuals? including: • Animal Kingdom has already won Many other sequences could have an international film award at the Patrick Kolan’s review at
The official website for Animal Michôd’s film and is a novelisation SCREEN EDUCATION The Boys (Rowan Woods, 1998) Kingdom, where you can find of the film. Two Hands (Gregor Jordan, 1999) information about the film. Chopper (Andrew Dominik, 2000) Endnote Little Fish (Rowan Woods, 2005) http://www.sonyclassics.com/ 1 Robert McKee, Story: Substance, Underbelly series 1, television series animalkingdom/ Structure, Style, and the Principles East West 101 seasons 1 and 2, The US website for the film. of Screenwriting, Methuen, London, television series 1999, p.29. 13 Cedar Boys (Serhat Caradee, 2009) This study guide was produced by ATOM. (© ATOM 2010) [email protected] For more information on Screen Education magazine, or to download other study guides for assessment, visit
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