Film Review: HEARTS AND BONES (2019): A Picture Exposes the Truth of Trauma for Unlikely Friends

Hearts and Bones Review

Hearts and Bones (2019) Film Review, a movie directed by Ben Lawrence, starring Hugo Weaving, Andrew Luri, Bolude Watson, and Hayley McElhinney.

Hearts and Bones follows an unlikely friendship between an Australian war photographer, Dan (Weaving) and a South Sudanese taxi driver, Sebastian (newcomer Luri), who is disturbed by one of Dan’s photographs. Both men suffered trauma from personal tragedy as well as their varied experiences with war. Shot on a low budget,  with even lower distribution, Hearts and Bones feels pure. Weaving is a veteran and Lori is an amateur, but their chemistry is sparkling. Each shows a great generosity in his emotional performance.

Dan’s photography kicks up emotions and secrets on which both men have kept very tight reins. We know from the beginning of the film that photographs are only a snapshot of the truth. The brutality that precedes or follows the moment on film is what haunts these men.

The film is a comment on the inadequacy of photos to really capture the truth, but also the power a picture has to confront the truth. We can only know what came before and after the captured moment if we ask the necessary questions of the photographer and subject. Hearts and Bones challenges us to consider the true owner of photographic work – the artist or the subject.

Sebastian is that truth that Dan chases all over the world and also tries to avoid ever really seeing. Clearly, Dan had never thought to contextualize the photograph he took till he met Sebastian. He works hard to remain impartial of the gory subjects of his work. Sebastian had clearly chosen to bury the truth of the subject in the photograph in order to move on with his life in Sydney. Both of their forms of suppression come at a cost.

Dan is a mess. We see the toll his career of war photography takes on his mind and body having lived through decades of documenting death. Many of the subjects of his work do not live. The first and last shots of the film show how Dan sees specters with each photo. Unfortunately, his girlfriend Josie (McElhinney) only seems to add to the pain. Even though she earnestly longs to see him thrive in a settled and safe environment, she undermines his resolve. We watch this couple walk a very tight rope of patience and pride.

Dan and Sebastian both find it difficult to allow themselves to grieve and confront their pain. However, Sebastian is a well-established family man living a working class life with his doting wife, Anishka (Watson). Yet, Sebastian’s somewhat idyllic life stands on a foundation of repressed grief.  Dan’s photograph surfaces, threatening Sebastian’s thinly veiled peace. Sebastian, unlike Dan, chose to bury the past.

See, Hearts and Bones is not only about a single photo, but every photo. The photos people choose to take, choose to keep, and choose to display. Are we ever inclined to display photos that hurt? Josie made the personal decision to box up and bury photos that reminded her of the daughter she and Dan lost. She made the decision for herself, but also without considering Dan’s feelings. Now, here she is making that personal decision for Sebastian and others.

Anishka, sitting in Josie’s home, surveying the walls, says to Josie, “there are no pictures of you in hell”. It is a charge against the impolitic audacity that Josie and Dan have when they choose to exhibit the worst moments in people’s lives. If the roles were reversed, would they have appreciated Sebastian displaying photos of Josie’s deceased daughter on jumbo canvases without permission.

Once you really consider the subject of a photo, can you remain impartial about its meaning? A photo is only a snippet of a life. Is it fair for that snippet to become the whole picture of a person’s life? When does a photo become remembrance or punishment? These questions and more arise in this quiet, introspective film.

Hearts and Bones is deep, tragic, and beautiful. The performances are superb, with Luri and Watson shining brightly against a heart-felt performance by Weaving. It is not particularly shot well probably due to budget, but that does not get in the way of its power. The sounds of tears and choirs are the main backdrop for this thought-provoking story. If you stumble upon this little gem, it is worth a watch.

Rating: 6/10

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