Barbarella talks with Justin Kurzel about his controversial film NITRAM

Hello, my friends. Barbara here. A film based on the true story of the worst mass shooting in Australian history, NITRAM, is now in theaters, for digital rental and on AMC+. The film features an incredible performance from one of my favorite off-the-beaten-path actors, Caleb Landry Jones, as the title character whose life evolves into the fateful episode that shocked and horrified a country and resulted in an incredible gun reform. p>

Because of the subject matter, the film was met with some resistance, even though Shaun Grant's screenplay only depicts the events leading up to the shooting, not the crime itself. Directed by director Justin Kurzel, NITRAM proves to be both emotionally taxing and powerful, as it reveals much about the man as he transforms into what many consider a monster.

I had the opportunity to speak with Justin Kurzel about the film and the controversy. Check it out.

I find it interesting that in America a horrible event is happening and it doesn't take long for a movie to be made about it. For example, when Charles Whitman climbed to the top of the UT Tower, he ended up killing about 16 people, and within a decade, The Deadly Tower, with Kurt Russell in the role of Whitman, came out, and there really wasn't too much controversy. But decades after the events happened, there is a lot of controversy over NITRAM when it was released in Australia. Why do you think there is such a difference in reaction between Australians and Americans when it comes to these kinds of stories?

"Because before the Port Arthur shooting, I don't think we've ever seen an event like this, in terms of mass shootings. It was very unusual. It happened in a sleepy beautiful peaceful town and it brought the nation to a halt it was truly seismic he changed the gun laws in six days there was a buyout that happened it completely changed gun reform, and it's become this nightmare not to look back on. I completely understand that. This event has a very firm hole in the ground as far as its mark on history here goes. When we were filming, I think it was October, November, I think mass shootings in America were over 480 in a year.

"It's a daily occurrence in the United States, which is hugely different from Australia. Port Arthur's shadow is extremely long, and the gun reform that followed was very compelling. I think there's just different attitudes, and I think it's also that people find it very difficult to talk about it and still do. We knew that going into it there would be people who would really want to let it not be done."

I heard that you were initially worried about doing this just for these reasons. What convinced you to go ahead and move on?

"I live in Tasmania; my wife is Tasmanian and our children go to school here. The last thing I wanted to do was upset people here, but I found the storyline so amazing and compelling, and I understood why Shaun was writing it. I thought his heart was in the right place, and there was a sensitivity and respect there that was important to me. It was a script that I felt I could do There were a lot of reasons for that, but I felt like I had to make the movie about what it was trying to say and what it was trying to investigate, but also creatively This is one of the most fascinating things I've read.”

It seems as polarizing in Australia as the 'Goofy ate my baby' debate in the 1980s. Some people just don't believe his story should be told, and telling it from his perspective makes it makes friendly. What do you think of these comments?

"I challenge an audience to watch the movie and feel sympathy for it. I think there's an empathy in the family and in the group of people in the movie. I think it's a very hard line, a really difficult and difficult thing to do a movie about someone like that, who makes a horrible decision at the end of the movie. At the same time, you want the movie to be familiar and recognizable. You want to ...