Parents, especially fathers with daughters, will feel a certain kinship with Christian Forteski (Peter Marshall), the vengeful hero of Australian writer/director/editor/producer Steven Kastrissios’ feature debut The Horseman. Not your typical revenge flick, this depressing but powerfully intense film explores how one man deals with loss and his own inner demons.
After his daughter’s death from an overdose, Christian receives a videotape in the mail of her performing in an amateur porn film shortly before her death. Enraged and unable to come to terms with her death, he sets out on a rampage of revenge against the underground porn community, brutally and methodically taking out those he feels are responsible for her death. Along the way, he picks up a young hitchhiker named Alice with whom he develops a kind of father-daughter relationship.
Marshall delivers a compelling performance as a man consumed by grief and despair who channels it into the fury and rage with which he metes out punishment. Kind of makes one wonder whether Marshall has a daughter of his own that he was thinking of when preparing for the role. He’s also got a soft side, though. Christian’s relationship with Alice (Caroline Marohasy) is touching, and although it’s not spelled out on screen, it’s implied through his interaction with her that Christian begins to realize that perhaps he himself should shoulder some of the blame for his daughter’s death.
The Horseman may not be an easy film to like, given it’s dour subject matter, but it is a film that’s easy to appreciate. Well-written, well-directed, well-acted, and with graphic violence made all the more brutal because of its realism, it’s no wonder this was picked to play at Fantasia and that it won Best Australian Film and Best Director awards at the 2008 Melbourne Underground Film Festival. Much darker than anything Charles Bronson ever did, the one word that comes to mind when trying to describe The Horseman is: powerful.
