Nitram Movie Review | Reviewer: Aria Mendoza
My choice for the Reel Time Move Column was an award-winning movie that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in summer of 2021 called Nitram which highlights the true events leading up to a mass shooting in Tasmania. 聽The mass murderer, who is now serving 35 life sentences in Australia, is an intellectually disabled young man in his late-20’s who seemingly has the volatile emotions and social capabilities of an adolescent. This has made him a prime bully target for his peers who solidified his nickname as Nitram (his first name, Martin, backwards) throughout the small-town community where he grew up.
When the movie opens, we meet Martin and his parents who live together in a small apartment in Tasmania. The mother is a typical 鈥渟top, you鈥檙e embarrassing me鈥�-type of parent; she鈥檚 harsh with Martin, nagging him constantly to behave, while his dad essentially plays 鈥済ood cop鈥� to her 鈥渂ad cop鈥� role. Martin鈥檚 fascination with violent activities like popping fireworks or shooting an air rifle seem harmless to his father. While his mom seems to always be wrought with distress, his dad finds a ray of hope in his unremarkable life by envisioning moving his family to a bed and breakfast (BnB) he recently found for sale that鈥檚 beautifully bookended by a body of water and the countryside.
Through a series of events, Martin is befriended by a retired actress, named Helen, who essentially lives secluded in a run-down mansion with 14 dogs and an array of cats. She buys him a car, though he has no license, and even lets him move into a spare room when he, in an act of rebellion, essentially 鈥渞uns away鈥� from home. However, he maintains a relationship with his parents and things seem to be on a positive trajectory for Helen, Martin and his parents.
The life events that take place next would be traumatic for anyone to go through, so I can only imagine the internal turmoil this already intellectually and emotionally challenged individual was enduring. One of Martin鈥檚 bad habits, jerking the steering wheel while someone is driving, leads to a car crash, resulting in Helen鈥檚 brutal death and severe injuries for himself. Then Martin鈥檚 father, right after securing funding for his dream BnB was informed that it was sold for a higher offer. This leads him into a paralyzing depression and suicide.
Though he is rich by worldly standards, as the sole inheritor of Helen鈥檚 estate, Martin clearly is lost and disturbed as he begins drinking heavily and continues down a path of violence while living isolated in the decaying mansion. He abandons all of Helen鈥檚 animals, purchases a multitude of firearms (legally, I might add), and seemingly draws inspiration from the Dunblane massacre he sees on the news. Blaming the new BnB owners for his father鈥檚 suicide, Martin decides to take the couple as his first victims, murdering them in the very place that was, in his eyes, stolen from his father. 聽Next, he sets up a camera at a caf茅 in Port Arthur, eats lunch, then uses one of his many rifles to murder 35 unsuspecting people and wound 23 others.
The ending scene is Martin鈥檚 mom smoking on her porch while news of the massacre is playing on the TV as background noise. Before the credits roll, the filmmakers note that Australia immediately made fundamental changes to their gun laws following this massacre, including a massive 鈥渂uyback鈥� and destruction of firearms by the government. The final line on the screen stated that: 鈥淭here are now more firearms owned in Australia than in 1996,” really made me stop and think.聽The massacre happened in 1996 and this film was released in 2021.
The movie brings an interesting light to gun control right there at the end. I do think it also does an excellent job of highlighting the volatile circumstances that many people live in day-to-day without being disrespectful to the victims of the massacre. I would recommend watching Nitram, but just remember that this is a true reflection of real people and the events leading up to a terribly violent moment in history. My heart goes out to the victims and their families.