How to let go of the dead and undead.
The zombie genre of “We Bury the Dead” takes place after a military experiment gone wrong off the coast of Tasmanian, Australia. Half a million people are dead, and a portion of them are waking up either with a taste for human flesh or to settle some unfinished business like ghosts. It’s funny, because I believe there was another zombie movie set in Australia about 20 years ago called “Undead,” except it began with a meteor shower and was more of a goofy action movie.
This one has some action, but it’s more of a drama, which “28 Years Later,” deals with grief and loss. I’m sure a number of us remember the human bones monument in that film, and how the dying mother’s skull was placed on top of it. Even zombie movies can show some emotional weight, instead of focusing on the blood and gore all the time.
Daisy Ridley stars as Ava, a masseuse, whose husband Mitch (Matt Whelan) was in Australia for a work retreat near the attack (Woodbridge to be exact), and she joins a “body retrieval unit” in the military to try to find him. Teaming up with another recruit and builder named Clay (Brendon Thwaites), she has to venture into dangerous territory, which includes reasons for why some people come back to life.
The aftermath of the explosion is still smokey, ashy, and orangey. And the look is sad and fantastic, as it resonates with our reality. So, it’s amazing how the main heroine can dodge that area to try to focus on her loved one. Some of the undead look haunting, especially when they grind their teeth and one of them looks like he’s covered in oil. And very few either come of the shadows to try to pull a jump scare on us or wake Ava up.
“We Bury the Dead” also knows how grief can threaten a person’s sanity, when the scene when Ava comes across a grief-stricken solider named Riley (Mark Coles Smith), who forces her to participate in some kind of memory jolt. And way before that, we see the people disillusioned with the deaths of their loved ones, and we really can’t blame them. After all, not everyone can come back to life, but on the other hand, even if they could in those case, it wouldn’t make any difference. And we also see flashbacks with Ava and Mitch, and how their relationship has been before he left for the work retreat.
If the undead can take care of some unfinished business, then maybe the movie should have delved deeper into the notion. But I suppose we’re supposed to see it for how to handles a person’s grief in circumstances such as these. Ridley displays a strong range of emotions, as her character thinks back about her relationship with her husband and how she wants to find him, dead or alive. And given her action roles outside of her Rey Skywalker persona (I think “Cleaner” deserves some more credit), she can thrive on whatever happens. I think her disposition is like a teaser to what she’s about to do next.
“We Bury the Dead” is probably going to get buried by some of the recent blockbusters, and remember, we also have the “28 Years Later” sequel with the subtitle: “The Bone Temple” coming out in a few weeks. But I still say it’s another undead movie that’s more alive than dead.
