Fell by Natasha Pincus

JUDGES' COMMENTS

A drama set in a timber community, where loggers fire ropes high into trees before climbing, Fell tells the story of two men separately affected by the tragic death of a young girl. While camping with her father Thomas, seven-year-old Lara is hit and killed by a logging truck. Jumping ahead in time, grief-stricken Thomas changes his identity, calling himself Chris, and builds a new life as a logger in the bush. When the truck driver, Luke, gets out of jail and rejoins his logging crew, he teams up with Chris for a job deep in the bush, oblivious to their tragic connection. But when Luke’s five-year-old daughter Madeleine gets lost in the bush, the two men confront their shared despair and Chris is forced to choose between retribution and forgiveness.

There is an admirable boldness and ambition behind an impressionistic script that shows the lives of two men as part of the cycle of death and regeneration in the Australian bush. Chris and Luke are vivid characters in the distinctive setting of a logging community. A potent story about the futility of revenge — and the need to move on after a tragic experience — is told with a great affection for the bush.