The Furnace

2020

1 hr. 56 min.

Adventure

Drama

Western

List

90%

20 Reviews

Tomatometer

83%

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Audience Score

To escape a harsh existence and return home, a young cameleer partners with a mysterious bushman on the run with Crown-marked gold bars.

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Gillian S

How did this movie get such good reviews? Any movie with only men in it is not a good sign. Except for the two Chinese women who were in the movie for two seconds or so. It was interesting to find out about Persians, Indians and Afghans working in Australia in the nineteenth century, I found this movie boring and slow. Too many men shooting at each other. Nothing to alleviate the violence. The best part was the Aborigines, treated equally.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

10/02/23

Full Review

Achille L

I found this film compelling and a true testament, in the end, to man's true nature; persevering despite all the opportunities to go astray. ….definitely not a Hollywood package.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/24/23

Full Review

Rich M

It's a if Roderick MacKay took the black and white classic The Treasure of Sierra Madre and put it through a Colonial Australian prism to produce a rainbow of parrallel stories about the corruptive power of greed. The backdrop is the stark beauty of the Australian Outback and the pure existence of its Aboriginal inhabitants. Add colonialism, racism, religion, desperate ambition to the many characters struggling to survive in a foreign land and a gripping parable unfolds about how "just a rock", gold, can destroy so many lives, and possibly enlighten one. Beautifully done.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/07/23

Full Review

Brent L

I have never seen such an original movie, very different, very compelling and every second drives you on. Stellar performances from the actors, amazing story line and superb editing and direction. Best movie so for of 2023. David Wenham's performance was super impressive. Best ever movie ending. But Ahmed Malek stole the show for his acting. A rising star, for sure.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/06/23

Full Review

T S

Really enjoyed this movie. Story telling was great & Jay Ryan did a great job as the Sargent.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/07/23

Full Review

wayne m

The Furnace is a rugged, sometimes compelling film about a lesser known part of Australian history. Set in Western Australia in 1897 it involves a land of danger and violence and gold. There are many Central Asians employed to steer camels across the desert carrying all sorts of goods. When Mal robs a goldmine it sets off a dangerous and bloody chase. Somehow he ends up with Hanif, an Afghani cameleer who longs to return home. On the promise of gold he sets off with Mal to get to a furnace where the gold can be metled down. Hanif is also friends with the Indigenous community and can speak their language. The film does an an excellent job on portraying the severity of the terrain and the injustices put upon the cameleers and the Indigenous popluation. The writing is a bit uneven and the film meanders at times but it's mostly a worthy film with an interesting story.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Roderick Mackay

Director

David Wenham

Mal

Jay Ryan

Sergeant Shaw

Mahesh Jadu

Sadhu

Samson Coulter

Trooper Sam

Goran D. Kleut

Yates

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David Stratton

The Australian

If the film has a flaw it's that it doesn't quite reach the satisfying climax it promises; it's beautiful, even powerful, but rather bleak.

Rated: 4/5

Dec 16, 2020

Full Review

Jake Wilson

The Age (Australia)

MacKay is not lacking in talent, but for a first-time director he may have taken on a little too much. While the scattered quality of the storytelling may be partly deliberate, a bigger problem is the lack of consistent tone.

Rated: 2.5/5

Dec 10, 2020

Full Review

Luke Buckmaster

Guardian

The first-time feature filmmaker captures an intriguing stillness derived heavily from the land, which is vast and unforgiving, of course; it wouldn't be an Australian western if it wasn't.

Rated: 4/5

Dec 8, 2020

Full Review

Roger Moore

Movie Nation

A solid if somewhat slow Australian variation on the "gold fever leads to gold madness" "Treasure of Sierra Madre" theme.

Rated: 2.5/4

Aug 8, 2023

Full Review

Jane Freebury

The Canberra Times (Australia)

A remarkable first feature film...

Rated: 4/5

Aug 23, 2022

Full Review

Alistair Lawrence

Common Sense Media

This is still a bold, interesting movie that has the potential to encourage filmmakers and audiences to think differently about a genre that is often guilty of neglecting the past.

Rated: 3/5

Sep 20, 2021

Full Review

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Synopsis

To escape a harsh existence and return home, a young cameleer partners with a mysterious bushman on the run with Crown-marked gold bars.

Director: Roderick Mackay
Executive Producer: Roderick Mackay
Screenwriter: Roderick Mackay, Roderick MacKay
Production Co: Southern Light Films
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Western
Original Language: English (Australia)
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 14, 2021

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