True History of the Kelly Gang

True History of the Kelly Gang is a 2019 bushranger film directed by Justin Kurzel, written by Shaun Grant, and based upon the 2000 novel of the same name by Peter Carey. A fictionalised account of the life of bushranger and outlaw Ned Kelly, the film stars George MacKay, Essie Davis, Nicholas Hoult, Charlie Hunnam and Russell Crowe. It had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 11 September 2019. It was released in Australia on Australia Day 2020, by Transmission Films and Stan, in the United Kingdom on 28 February 2020, by Picturehouse Entertainment, and in the United States on 24 April 2020, by IFC Films. Plot Based on Peter Carey's novel of the same name, the film is a highly-fictionalised account of the life of Australian bushranger Ned Kelly and his gang as they flee from authorities during the 1870s. Although the following facts are not made clear in the film, in reality Ned Kelly's father, John "Red" Kelly (Gentle Ben Corbett), was an Irishman transported to a prison colony in Van Diemen's Land, who eventually settled in the colony of Victoria, Australia. After marrying Ned's mother Ellen (Essie Davis), the Kellys settled in a rural area northeast of Melbourne. Before the film's narrative begins, Red Kelly has had numerous brushes with the colonial police forces. Toward the start of the film he has another confrontation with the constabulary which results in his imprisonment and death when his son Ned (Orlando Schwerdt) is twelve years old. Ned is a courageous and compassionate boy, in one instance jumping into a river to save another boy from drowning. Ned is shocked when he finds evidence that his father has been cross-dressing while carrying out his outlaw raids.