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Clip description
Ned (Heath Ledger), Dan Kelly (Laurence Kinlan), Steve Hart (Philip Barantini) and Joe Byrne (Orlando Bloom) lie in wait at the police bush camp near Stringybark Creek. Ned has already shot Constable Lonigan (Peter Phelps) after the policeman refused to put down his gun and fired at Ned. When the other two police return, they also go for their weapons, after being told to drop them. Ned shoots Constable Scanlan (Eddy McShortall) on his horse and chases Sgt Kennedy (Anthony Hayes) into the undergrowth, both men firing at each other. Ned repeatedly calls on Kennedy to surrender, but the sergeant keeps firing. Ned fires back, wounding him a second time. He tries to comfort the sergeant, who is in great distress.
Curator’s notes
This is the turning point of the film. A minor dispute about a policeman’s inappropriate advances towards Ned’s sister turns here into three counts of murder. There is no clear agreement about what happened at Stringybark Creek, apart from the fact that three policemen died, but the events we see here are close to the account in Ian Jones’s book, Ned Kelly – A Short Life (1995).
Much of Jones’s account is drawn from Kelly’s own description of what happened, given after he was captured. There were conflicting accounts at the time of who fired first, but the script resolves all of those doubts in Kelly’s favour. Constable Lonigan clearly aims and fires first, resulting in his own death. The other police refuse to put down their weapons, resulting in a shootout – which could be described as a fair fight. Heath Ledger’s performance concentrates on the anguish that Ned feels at Sgt Kennedy’s distress. He takes off his coat and tries to comfort the man. He apologises for shooting him. Eventually, he will take out his revolver and shoot Kennedy dead, out of pity. The events depicted and Ledger’s impassioned performance in this clip cement the film’s interpretation of Ned as a tragic hero, subject to circumstances beyond his control.
Director Gregor Jordan does a skilful job with this scene. The events move quickly out of control and beyond correction. In a few seconds, the Kelly gang becomes fully-fledged outlaws, although only one man is shown as responsible for the killing. Ned does most of the shooting. We see two shots of Joe Byrne firing, but we don’t see that he hits anyone. Jordan makes good use of widescreen, particularly in the shots with Ned chasing Sgt Kennedy through the trees. The camera movements in this sequence also add to the growing sense of inexorable disaster. No one intends for things to go this far but now there is no going back.
