The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce - Review

The story of convict Alexander Pearce, Tasmania’s relatively famous contribution to cannibal lore, has been tackled in half a dozen local screen productions over the last few years. Transported  to Van Diemen’s Land as a petty thief, Alexander Pearce was involved in two escape attempts from the colony’s harshest penal outpost, Sarah Island. Pearce became a notorious figure when he survived both desperate attempts to traverse Tasmania’s bleak western landscape by eating his fellow escapees. Turning himself in to authorities after the second failed attempt, Pearce hanged in Hobart Town in 1824. The story of this cannibalistic murderer swept around the world in the months that followed.

Partly funded by Screen Tasmania, The Last Confession is one of the most entertaining recounts of this story that we have seen so far. The performances of Pearce (Ciaran McMenamin) and his convict companions, particularly Greenhill (Daniel Wyllie) and Mather (Don Hany), are excellent and it is through their efforts that the pathos of this story really emerges. Some of the secondary characters are not quite as believable and this lets the exposition scenes down a little, but it is the convict’s journey through the wilderness that we are really interested in. The barren Western Tiers, depicted as a savagely hostile landscape, intensify the atmosphere of the film and it is easy to sympathize with the desperate situation of the escapees. The violence and gore inherent in this story is understated in comparison to similar projects and the subtle handling of such savage violence gives the film a gritty reality that a blunter or more shocking approach would never have achieved

Shot and constructed in a fairly clinical manner, The Last Confession straddles the line between documentary and dramatic reconstruction a little uncomfortably at times, but it is entertaining enough to keep an audience hooked. Delivered in straightforward steps, the plot follows Pearce’s third confession and doesn’t bring up his earlier version of events, which definitely works in the films favor. The drama derives from the harrowing story itself rather than any screenwriter’s tricks, talking heads or graphic special effects. Thankfully, writer/director Michael James Rowland has by-passed a journalistic examination of the events and instead hit the jugular of the story – no man knows what hunger can make him do.

The DVD extras included with this release  - deleted and extended scenes and alternative opening and ending sequences - are mildly interesting but do not offer any more real insight into the story. The stills gallery is a nice inclusion and looks fantastic, but the storyboard/script presentation is a bizarre choice and does not do the audience or the production team any favors.

The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce (distributed by Hopscotch Films) is available at JB Hi-Fi and other DVD retailers.