Located off the coast of Indonesia, the Australian territory of Christmas Island is inhabited by migratory crabs travelling in their millions from the jungle towards the ocean, in a movement that has been provoked by the full moon for hundreds of thousands of years. Poh Lin Lee is a "trauma therapist" who lives with her family in this seemingly idyllic paradise. Every day, she talks with the asylum seekers held indefinitely in a high-security detention centre hidden in the is... (Full plot summary below)
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Located off the coast of Indonesia, the Australian territory of Christmas Island is inhabited by migratory crabs travelling in their millions from the jungle towards the ocean, in a movement that has been provoked by the full moon for hundreds of thousands of years. Poh Lin Lee is a "trauma therapist" who lives with her family in this seemingly idyllic paradise. Every day, she talks with the asylum seekers held indefinitely in a high-security detention centre hidden in the island's core, attempting to support them in a situation that is as unbearable as its outcome is uncertain. As Poh Lin and her family explore the island's beautiful yet threatening landscape, the local islanders carry out their "hungry ghost" rituals for the spirits of those who died on the island without a burial. They make offerings to appease the lost souls who are said to be wandering the jungles at night looking for home. In the intimacy of her therapy sessions, as Poh Lin listens to the growing sense of despair of the people she counsels, she begins to feel the creeping dystopia reverberate through her own life. ISLAND OF THE HUNGRY GHOSTS is a hybrid documentary that moves between the natural migration and the chaotic and tragic migration of the humans, which is in constant metamorphoses by the unseen decision-making structures.
Leave your thoughts about Island of the Hungry Ghosts.
| New Zealand HeraldTom AugustinePoetic and impressionistic, this is urgent, angry filmmaking that reaches for something transcendent in its exploration of the conflict between precarious, precious nature and deeply human evil. |
| CineuropaKaleem AftabThey are prisoners in all but name. Yet director Brady is also conscious of the fact that these stories are in danger of becoming white noise, just another story or film about refugees. |
| Financial TimesDanny LeighThis might almost be the island of The Tempest, a place with a stark message for humanity. |
| Backseat MafiaRob AldamIsland of Hungry Ghosts focuses on Australia's questionable human rights record through a poetic and lyrical lens. |
| Flicks.com.auBlake HowardWhile a subject like imprisonment and the exile of asylum seekers could succumb to Alan Jones style bullying, Island of the Hungry Ghosts chooses an altogether different route. It's a lure; a tug at your very soul. |
| Los Angeles TimesKimber MyersIt’s a humane, compassionate film, simultaneously full of beauty, sadness and struggle. |
| Moveable FestStephen SaitoBrady inspires an audience to lean in, with the accumulation of small details gradually adding up to something extraordinarily powerful. |
| ArtsHubSarah WardWeaves its threads together in an astute, empathetic and impassioned manner, all while remaining cognisant that nothing within the film exists in a vacuum. |
| It's Just MoviesRon WilkinsonWith the environment constantly under worldwide attack, this is one place nature is winning. |
| Slant MagazineEd GonzalezThe film is a haunting portrait of the island as a purgatorial realm between the poles of isolation and liberation. |
