The movie revolves around an old farmer who had some troubles with a white man. The conflict between both of them ended by the murder of the white man. In 1920s this is a serious sin. The old farmer has to start running if he wants to keep his life safe.
As harshly beautiful as its landscape, this is a stark corrective to the American western it echoes, and a pragmatic confrontation with the deep, tenacious roots of modern racism.
While Sweet Country snakes along to an inevitable outcome, Thornton retains a sharp control over the movie's ravishing visuals, assembling them with a rhythmic quality that transcends any specific time and place.
Altogether, Thornton's film is a moody and dark meditation -- a grim portrait of an Old West that will be both familiar and foreign to American audiences.
