Ellis Park
Justin Kurzel’s unconventional documentary blends a portrait of the musician Warren Ellis and footage of the animal sanctuary that means so much to him.
Image courtesy of Conic.
On paper Ellis Park is a film likely to attract audiences made up of three distinct groups. First, since this is a film about the celebrated musician and composer Warren Ellis, it should draw viewers who admire his film scores and also his performances most notably those alongside Nick Cave in Cave’s rock band The Bad Seeds. In addition, as the film’s title indicates, it focuses on the Ellis Park animal sanctuary in Sumatra and, in dealing with the inspiring work done there, it promises to be ideal fare for those who seek out documentaries about animal welfare. The third category of people who will be eager to see Ellis Park are all those who admire the films made by the Australian director Justin Kurzel: they may be surprised that he has for once moved away from making tense dramas such as True History of the Kelly Gang (2019) and Nitram (2021) but will want to see how he handles a documentary. In these circumstances, Ellis Park has the potential to draw large audiences but it is unfortunate that one can see how all three categories might on seeing the film feel some degree of disappointment. It's all the sadder because despite its faults Ellis Park comes across as an appealing work and one made with real affection.
Many documentaries carry no writing credit, but this one does and it is shared by Kurzel himself and Nick Fenton. Their contribution presumably played a major role in shaping the film and it is, alas, the way in which the material has been put together that renders this such an odd piece and makes it feel flawed. In theory the film should have cohered well enough despite its seemingly disparate elements. Ellis himself, tall and bearded, is now sixty years old and he is a very engaging presence. One feels that he was acting in character when a few years ago he bought land in Sumatra and donated it to be used as a rescue shelter for animals, a project run by Femke Den Haas who had needed financial support for it to go ahead and be fully realised. In the course of Kurzel’s film we accompany Ellis when he journeys out there to see the park and to meet Femke face to face for the first time. However, anyone expecting Ellis Park to be the main subject will probably be taken aback to find that it is only fully central in the last third of the film.
Earlier we witness recent travels undertaken by Ellis as a performer and in particular we join him as he visits his elderly parents, John (who has since died) and Diane, in the Australian town of Ballarat where he was born. Recalling past times in their presence fits in with Ellis looking back first on his early life and then on his subsequent career. This aspect is covered either as he speaks direct to camera or in voice-over. Old footage of him playing as one of the Dirty Three with Jim White and Mick Turner also features as do his later performances with Nick Cave. These elements fit together well enough but, unless you know in advance how Ellis Park comes into the picture, the first scene in which the park is shown seems to have strayed in from another film altogether. Far more intentional yet off-putting too is a decision by Kurzel to cut in scenes of Ellis taken in Paris which pop up at intervals (their repeated appearances destroy any sense of a clear timeline). The style is such that when we find ourselves back in Ballarat, we are not certain if this is a continuation of the visit we have already witnessed or another one. On top of that, Ellis not only takes his violin with him a great deal (he even has it when revisiting a cinema he attended in his youth) but is glimpsed again and again playing it in close-up shots. The film’s music score is credited to Ellis and these frequent images give the impression that the film in addition to its other concerns is also being set up as a musical work in which his violin playing is as significant as the visuals. But, while this is intriguingly unorthodox, it does add yet another layer which, although fine in itself, takes away from the sense of unity that the film needs if it is to function smoothly as a whole.
Individual aspects of Ellis Park work very well and Femke Den Haas and her staff as well as Ellis himself come across as deeply sincere and attractive human beings. Some areas of Ellis’s life are not covered (there is no more than a passing reference to Ellis being married) but his bond with his father is admirably captured, not least when they offer a joint performance of John Ellis's composition ‘Mis’ry Is My Middle Name’. When it comes to the animal footage an armless macaque named Rina will win the hearts of viewers and by the close the two sides of the film do indeed unite. Ellis himself recognises his own need to find the peace of a place where one feels safe and in its way that is akin to what Femke and her helpers have found in looking after injured animals always hoping that most of them will recover sufficiently to be freed in due course. Just as when performing Ellis is engaged from the heart so too are they in the devoted running of the rescue shelter. So much seen here is touching and involving that I wish that Justin Kurzel had not been so keen to adopt such a consciously unconventional approach. But, if that decision undercuts the pleasure which a more straightforward approach to the material would have yielded, there is a lot to like here and that includes the people on screen.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Featuring Warren Ellis, Femke Den Haas, John Hunt Ellis, Diane Ellis, Rio Kaj Den Haas and the staff of Ellis Park.
Dir Justin Kurzel, Pro Nick Batzias, Charlotte Wheaton and Sandra Delpech, Ph Germain McMicking, Ed Nick Fenton, Music Warren Ellis.
GoodThing Productions/Screen Australia/VicScreen/McCorkell Brown Group-Conic.
104 mins. Australia. 2024. UK Rel: 26 September 2025. Cert. 15.
