I need to state I have NO direct connection to the Production of TLOBH, other than I became aware of it when it was a crowd funded short and have followed its journey from afar, on line, ever since. I remember thinking then that the scale of the story seemed to lend itself better to a feature film, clearly the creative team thought the same and thank god they did, thus comes the tale of Ben Hall (Jack Martin) a father and low level criminal who didn't willingly choose a life of crime. Hall is forced to choose between a life of poverty and one that might provide his family with a decent future. Therein lies the dichotomy for the central character in this engaging study of Australia's first elusive Bushranger. Along with his gang of robbers, a mixed bunch if ever there was one, John Dunn and Johnny Gilbert (Jamie Coffa and William Lee) the unlikely trio force the law enforcement to take action and the hunt for them is on. Will Hall's ever deeper slide into a life of crime push him away from his family forever or can he give them all a new life before it's too late?

Criminally ignored by Austrailia's film festival circuit, I find it incredible that this is a feature film that started out from nothing, with very little assistance from the larger bodies of the professional industry down under has not been better supported by the movers and shakers in the industry in Oz. If ever there were a film to praise under such circumstances it would be this one. Matthew Holmes and his team have created a rich and believable world here, full of texture and character of the period that is entirely convincing. The action scenes are tense & gripping while the cast of largely unknowns, hold their own against many of Australians cinema leading contemporaries. The lead performance of Jack Martin is appropriately cold and well measured while Jamie Coffa brings an unusually camp energy to the proceedings which leaves one wondering if wine & women were not the only things his character were into. Holmes gets strong performances from the rest of his cast too - stand outs for me were Callan McAuliffe, whom I genuinely believed was an English actor from his accent and very nicely underplayed. William Lee is appropriately nervy while the man charged with Halls Capture, the Constable who hopes in vein to take Hall alive (The actors name I cannot recall) was extremely natural. Matthew Holmes clearly had a strong vision for his film and he has stamped it in all the right places. The rolling landscapes of New South Wales, not somewhere I am at all familiar with, were brought vividly to life, production design was excellent and the score by Ronnie Minder is something James Horner would have been proud of.

In the digital age it is perhaps more feasible to make a feature film than ever before, but still not many people do it and that's because its hard, to make a period film, even more so, a further dilemma, when your hero is really an anti hero and the film is not a traditional good vs evil story, here everything is far more shades of grey, risky, but the film is so much stronger for it. It is right and proper that the film is now getting a decent release and I strongly urge you to support it. Anyone who likes the Western genre is unlikely to be disappointed here and while the film may feel long, the journey of the characters cracks along and the end creeps up on you before you know it. More like this from Australian Cinemas please.