The Survival of Kindness

The Survival of Kindness is a 2022 Australian drama film written, produced and directed by Rolf de Heer. It had its world premiere at Adelaide Film Festival on 23 October 2022, and its international premiere in competition at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival on 17 February 2023, where it competed for Golden Bear and won the FIPRESCI Award for Best Film.

The Survival of Kindness
Promotional poster
Directed byRolf de Heer
Written byRolf de Heer
Produced by
  • Rolf de Heer
  • Julie Byrne
Starring
  • Mwajemi Hussein
  • Deepthi Sharma
  • Darsan Sharma
CinematographyMaxx Corkindale
Edited byIsaac Coen Lindsay
Music byAnna Liebzeit
Production
companies
  • Triptych Pictures
  • Vertigo Productions
Distributed byUmbrella Entertainment
Release dates
  • 23 October 2022 (2022-10-23) (Adelaide)
  • 17 February 2023 (2023-02-17) (Berlinale)
Running time
96 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

Premise

An allegory for racism, the film follows BlackWoman, who is abandoned in a cage on a trailer in the middle of the desert. Her escape leads to a city, recapture and tragedy.[1]

Cast

Production

The film is produced by Julie Byrne and Rolf de Heer under the banner of Triptych Pictures and Vertigo Productions and bankrolled by Screen Australia, Screen Tasmania, Adelaide Film Festival and South Australian Film Corporation. Umbrella Entertainment is taking care of distribution in Australia.[1] Elise Archer, Minister for the Arts, Tasmania, wrote on her website, "We have invested $90,000 in the film (The Survival of Kindness), through Screen Tasmania, which was filmed in both Tasmania and South Australia.[2]

Release

The Survival of Kindness had its world premiere at Adelaide Film Festival on 23 October 2022.[3]

It had its international premiere in competition at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival on 17 February 2023,[4] where it competed for Golden Bear and won the FIPRESCI Award for Best Film.[5][6]

Reception

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes website, the film has an approval rating of 89% based on 9 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10.[7] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100 based on 6 reviews, indicating "Generally Favorable Reviews".[8]

David Rooney, reviewing for The Hollywood Reporter at Berlin Film Festival, praised the performance of Mwajemi Hussein, writing, "Hussein’s unflinching performance speaks volumes, mostly without words". Rooney found the film rather too lengthy: "there’s a grim inevitability to The Survival of Kindness that becomes wearing, making its 96 minutes feel longer." Calling it a outback gothic, he stated, "Some will find it immersive and others distancing; many will find it unrelentingly bleak, even infuriating in its ability to be simultaneously opaque and obvious."[9] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian rated the film with 3 stars out of 5 and wrote, "It is an elegant reverie about the violence and the stoicism beneath the surface of ordinary life."[10] Wendy Ide for ScreenDaily wrote that the filmmaking is "striking, thought-provoking, although it rather runs out of steam and ideas in the third act."[11] Pat Brown for Slant Magazine rated 2.5 out of 4 and praised Hussein as "magnetic as BlackWoman". Brown opined, "An epic adventure in the guise of an arthouse flick, The Survival of Kindness makes up in visual power and moral clarity what it lacks in subtext."[12]

Accolades
Award Date Category Recipient Result Ref.
Berlin International Film Festival 25 February 2023 Golden Bear The Survival of Kindness Nominated [13]
FIPRESCI Award Best Film Won [6]

References
  1. Ramachandran, Naman (7 February 2023). "Rolf de Heer's Berlinale Competition Title 'The Survival of Kindness': Watch First Trailer (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  2. Archer, Elise (26 January 2023). "Tasmania on show at the Berlin Film Festival". Elise Archer. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  3. "The Survival of Kindness". Adelaide Film Festival. 23 October 2022. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  4. "Berlinale | Programme - The Survival of Kindness". berlinale.de. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
  5. Rosser, Michael (23 January 2023). "Berlin Film Festival reveals 2023 competition line-up". Screen Daily. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  6. Roxborough, Scott (25 February 2023). "Berlin: 'The Survival of Kindness,' 'Here' Win Critics' Fipresci Awards". The Hollywood Reporter.
  7. "The Survival of Kindness (Drama 2022)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on 26 February 2023. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  8. "The Survival of Kindness". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  9. Rooney, David (17 February 2023). "'The Survival of Kindness' Review: Rolf de Heer's Grim Tone Poem Tracks a Black Woman's Odyssey Out of Captivity". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  10. Bradshaw, Peter (17 February 2023). "The Survival of Kindness review – an elegant reverie about violence and stoicism". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  11. Ide, Wendy (17 February 2023). "The Survival Of Kindness': Berlin Review". ScreenDaily. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  12. Brown, Pat (19 February 2023). "The Survival of Kindness Review: A Powerfully Unsubtle Anti-Colonial Parable". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  13. Ramachandran, Naman; Vivarelli, Nick (23 January 2023). "Berlin Film Festival Reveals Competition Lineup (Updating Live)". Variety. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
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