We Bury the Dead: Revisionist Zombies

The timing for this film is unfortunate. It arrives a mere two weeks after the horrific Bondi Beach antisemitic attack. Yet, who do you think it suggests represents the greatest threat to Australia? The American military, of course. Not only did our military cause the zombie apocalypse with illegal chemical warfare testing, the Yanks who came to supposedly help are really just out to party. Such is the undisguised anti-Americanism of director-screenwriter Zak Hilditch’s We Bury the Dead, which opens this Friday in theaters.

Ava is a volunteer, who has come to the affected zone encompassing Tasmania to literally bury the dead. However, a handful are not so dead anymore. They are zombie-like, in the way we would use the term in real-life. They shuffle around aimlessly and vacantly, with no signs of consciousness. However, there are rumors a few of the zombies have been more aggressive.

The police and military summarily execute zombies, on humanitarian grounds. Yet, the revival phenomenon inevitably gives grieving loved ones false hope. Such is the case with Ava, an American expat. She volunteered hoping to find her Aussie husband Mitch. They parted on bad terms after an argument, so she hoped to find her way to the resort hosting his business conference. Blokey Clay is rebel enough to help her, especially when her plan involves appropriating vintage motorcycles.

As you might expect, the further Ava and Clay get to the resort, the more erratic the zombies act. Yet, as usual, mankind is the greatest monster. In this case, the most pressing danger comes from Riley, an indigenous soldier, who has apparently suffered some mental break. If its any consolation, Hilditch does seem to think much of the Australian military either.

As zombie films go, this one is about as revisionist as it gets. There are kernels of intriguing ideas, like the hypothesis zombies who re-animate have unfinished business that brings them back. Unfortunately, Hilditch executes with far too heavy a hand—and not just ideologically. Often the angst stands in the way of the storytelling. It is a shame, because he has successfully addressed such themes before, in a similar tone, throughout These Final Hours, which was one of the best apocalyptic films of the 2010’s. We Bury the Dead represents a pale shadow of that vastly superior film.

Frankly, Daisy Ridley never really connects as Ava, who is too aloof for someone so driven and guilt-ridden. However, Mark Coles Smith is unsettlingly intense as Riley. Yet, he humanizes the rogue soldier to such an extent, his climatic scene with Ava will leave viewers conflicted—in an unintended way.

Plenty of earlier films have invited sympathy for zombies, so Hilditch’s latest is not groundbreaking in that respect. The dour moodiness is distinctive, but Hilditch and company perversely do their best to push away viewers rather than pull them in. Not recommended, We Bury the Dead opens this Friday (1/2), only in theaters.