The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant
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| The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant | |
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| Directed by | Peter Andrikidis |
| Produced by | Andrew Benson , Greg Haddrick |
| Written by | Peter Berry |
| Starring | Romola Garai, Jack Davenport, Alex O'Loughlin Sam Neill, Tony Martin |
| Release date(s) | 2005 |
| Running time | 408 mins |
| Language | English |
| Budget | ~AUD$15,000,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant is a 2005 film that relates with epic sweep the tale, based on real events, of a young woman Mary Bryant who steals only because she is starving and ends up on the First Fleet full of prisoners bound for Botany Bay. It is written by Peter Berry and Directed by Peter Andrikidis. The film had a budget in excess of $15 million Australian Dollars, making this the largest television mini-series ever made in Australia. It was shot over 12 weeks in 22 locations.
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[edit] Plot
Pregnant by a jailer, Mary is befriended by a quick-witted smuggler named Will and exploited by a stiff-necked British officer named Clarke, whose wife abandons him just as the ships set sail.
During a rough night at sea Mary hits her head on a bar and is knocked unconscious only to be saved and cared for by Lt Ralph Clarke. Unaware that she is “with child”, Clarke asks permission from the Captain to let Mary stay with him. He believes that by educating her, he can reform her. Clarke promised “the girl will remain an innocent under his charge” so after finding out that she is pregnant he takes his anger out on one of the other female convicts with a lash. Angered by his heartless act, Mary returns to the cells with the other prisoners.
After giving birth to her daughter on the ship, Mary and the other convicts arrive at Botany Bay. Mary named her daughter Charlotte, “after the ship”. Seeing the benefits of being a family, Mary soon marries Will and they have a son Emmanuel. Her determination is always to avoid the hunger of her upbringing and to save her children from a similar fate.
Mary “abandons” her husband to live with Clarke who had been infatuated with her ever since she stayed with him on the ship. This is merely a distraction so her husband and their friends can steal food and supplies. After getting everything they need to escape in the Governor’s cutter, Mary leaves Clarke in the middle of the night. Infuriated that Mary deceived him and again deserted him, Clarke shoots and tries to sink their boat. Fortunately they escape with only minor damage to the boat.
Mary, her husband Will, their two children and three other men set sail for Timor, closely followed by Clarke who obsessively tries to catch them. Through sheer grit and enormous luck, most of them make it 4,000 miles to the Dutch colony of Timor where for a time they enjoy the luxury of freedom under new identities.
However fate conspires against them as Clarke stops there on his way back to England. The group flee Clarke and his guards, each splitting up to avoid being caught. Mary and the Children are separated from Will who is shot and killed by the jealous Clarke.
In an intense meeting between Mary and Clarke in the tropical jungle, where Clarke has a pistol pointed at Mary’s head, Mary again tries to manipulate the lovesick Clarke. Realising that she does not love him and only used him to survive, Clarke fires his pistol into the air, alerting nearby guards of their whereabouts causing Mary to be arrested.
Both of her children die on the journey home to England due to tropical diseases they caught in Timor. Mary and her two surviving escapees receive enormous support from the English public, receiving letters and gifts in their prison cell. However, none of this matters to Mary as she has lost her entire family.
The courts decide to let Mary and her companions go as he believes they have served their sentence. As for Clarke, he is left in England carrying the burden of being responsible for the death of Will, Charlotte and Emmanuel.
[edit] Credits
[edit] Cast
| Character | Actor |
|---|---|
| Mary | Romola Garai |
| Clarke | Jack Davenport |
| Will | Alex O'Loughlin |
| Gov. Phillip | Sam Neill |
| Martin | Tony Martin |
| Thomas | David Field |
| Rev. Johnson | Garry McDonald |
| Cox | Dan Spielman |
| Allen | Stephen Curry |
| Sam | Abe Forsythe |
| Elizabeth | Alice McConnell |
| Sgt. Ryan | Linal Haft |
[edit] Other Crew
| Director | Peter Andrikis |
| Writer | Peter Berry |
| Producers | Andrew Benson, Greg Haddrick |
| Executive Producers | Sue Masters, Peter Berry, Andy Harries, Des Monaghan, Justin Bodle |
| Director of Photography | Joe Pickering |
| Production Designer | Tim Ferrier |
| Editor | Henry Damgar |
| Composer | Iva Davies |
[edit] Quotes
Clarke: You have no idea who I am.
Clarke: Wilfulness is the root of all sin. Each of us has a daily battle to rein ourselves in, and you - you were the test I failed, twice.
Mary: Courage killed the one man I loved, and then it took my children. And now it will finish us off.
Clarke: All of these? An army couldn't have eaten and drunk ths much!
Ambassador's wife: They had very healthy appetites.
Clarke: And these? You gave note of credit for a brothel?
Ambassador's wife: From our limited knowledge of English ways. Admittedly many gossip about your royal family and members of parliament... we understood that the brothel was very much a part of the daily rounds.
Will: They said we'd never see the sun down here, but there you are.
Will: I won't be jumped!
Will: Still thinking of your lieutenant?
Mary: There is, and always has been, only one man for me.
Will: I could never leave that boy behind, no more than I can sleep with Ralph Clarke, but we've got this far because you could. They all know it, but none of them can say it.
Mary: We got this far because you sailed us here.
Governor Arthur Phillip: Nearest civilization, Timor - three or four thousand miles away. They'd have to negotiate reefs, plus twelve-hundred miles of open sea. And with the burden of carrying a woman, and children, no - even if they survive the sea, they'll never survive each other.
Clarke: Who are you being loyal to? Mary Bryant? She left you on that beach to die, do you think she'd die for you? She'd never even think of it!
Sam: I wouldn't want her to.
Will: I don't know that I can get us across.
Mary: Of course you don't, it's a risk, but you've gone from Cornwall across to Spain -the same distance, you said it yourself, and you'll be the one to get us to Timor.
Will: I didn't exactly do that - sail across to Spain, I didn't exactly do that. I can read a chart better than a book, I can hug a coastline, feel a boat around rocks, but I've never taken a boat outside of land in my life, and I don't intend to now. Listen to it, it's our last stroke of luck and its telling us to stay here.
Mary: Then why did you say...?
Will: Don't you know me by now?
Mary: Well, look at you, Mr. John Parker - I went and married the perfect gentlemen.
Will: And I went and married a real pistol!
Mary: God, I can't get used to it, not seen myself in a mirror for four years.
Will: You've been through a lot, it's taken its toll.
Will: You'd be better off here. Marry a Dutchman, God knows you've got enough of them lying around at your feet. No witnesses, no paper... we were blessed by a fool on a beach, wasn't legal outside the colony... you're free.
Mary: I've never thought of myself as being anything other than free, ever.
Clarke: I had a choice of two ships to bring me home, I chose this passage because I had to know... I've thought of nothing but you. I've never been so happy, when you came to me with the children and asked for my help, such a short time we had together...
Mary: I am no hero, and I have no ambition to be made into one. There are some in this court today who have tried to make me something that I am not. I am guilty as charged, as are the two men standing beside me. Not many of us transported can claim to be innocent - some are wicked, and deserve to be feared, but most are not. Most are men and women who risked their lives to feed themselves and their families. Guilty we may be, but worthless we are not. There are many like us in this country, and to transport us away is another country's gain, and this country's loss. Those that survive the harshness of the colonies are the true heroes. I tried to build a life amongst them, and would have been content to be their companion, but I stole away for the sake of my children, I could not see them starve. I have lost everything I hold dear to me, my husband, my children. So you can take my life, but these men- the courage they have should not be choked out of them.
