Director: Shawn Seet
Runtime: 99 minutes
Storm Boy, based on the novel of the same name, follows Michael Kingley (Geoffrey Rush) who has become a retired grandfather after a successful business career. We are introduced quickly to Kingley who seems to live a comfortable life with a beautiful home and a seat on the board of directors for a highly successful corporation. However, Kingley begins experiencing visions from his long-forgotten childhood, growing up on an isolated coastline with his father. To help make sense of these visions, he tells his granddaughter the story of his life on the secluded island and how he met an extraordinary orphaned pelican, Mr. Percival.
Australian cinema has the tendency to draw me away with its token portrayal of ‘Aussie larrikins’ and over-saturated accents. However, Storm Boy is a beautiful and charming film with an accurate portrayal of Australian life without forcing it to the forefront of its narrative. Geoffrey Rush’s performance of Michael is excellent, with the perfect level of sensible and earnest as he tells the story of his youth. His relationship with his granddaughter is a heartwarming beacon of connection as their highly successful and affluent family begins to drift apart due to their prosperous business slowly destroying natural resources in order to maintain their economic growth. Initially a submissive character, Michael begins to remember a time when he fought for the safety of animals and to preserve the beautiful natural resources.
As the film progresses, we get a look into the life of young Michael. His father, played by Jai Courtney, is a distant man who fishes to provide for his son while mourning the loss of his wife and daughter. We can see the family dynamic clearly as these two characters struggle to deal with the loss of their previous way of life and their inability to connect. Their daily routine and seclusion seems to have become the everyday occurrence as they quietly go about their days in solitude. After making friends with a local Indigenous Australian, Fingerbone Bill, Michael begins to explore the coastline and discovers a nest of pelicans abandoned after hunters killed their mother. Insistent on righting this wrong, Michael adopts the pelicans and begins to raise them as his own.
This heartwarming narrative brings us into the Kingley household as he and his father struggle to raise the pelicans and prepare them to survive in the wild. The film displays a wonderful depiction of love and tenderness as Michael grows to love these birds as part of the family. However, as the pelicans age, Michael’s father is unable to sustain their dietary requirements and realises their need to return to the wild. After some tears, only Mr. Percival (the smallest and weakest pelican) remains with Michael, not wishing to return as the others had.
As the plot for this charming film continues, we can’t help but fall in love with Mr. Percival and the incredible bond he has with Michael. This connects back to the modern day story as Michael begins to realise what he had forgotten somewhere in his adult life. As he continues to tell the story of Mr. Percival, he realises he must actively change what is happening before his business goes down a dark road. Mr. Percival is charming and could easily remind the audience of any animal or pet we have loved because of their incredible intelligence and wonderful personality.
This film surprised me as it brought me into this simple, yet endearing narrative of a young boy and his pelican. It touched on family dynamics, sustainability and brought an Australian tale to life without beating the audience over the head with Aussie slang and cultural depictions. Mr. Percival is a character in his own right, and the love between Michael and the pelican left me feeling touched by their bond and the wholesome life lessons that can be learned from reflecting on one’s past.
Leave a Reply