The Stranger pushes into the dark and disturbing aspects of human nature

There’s no benefit to denying that there are aspects about humanity that are dark and disturbing.

The Stranger is streaming now. Picture: Netflix

With the explosion in true crime movies, streaming series and podcasts, the thorny ethical debate about sensationalism versus purpose is always close by.

Thomas M. Wright’s moody and dark drama The Stranger is not immune to these questions. But, as The Stranger demonstrates, there is a vast difference between exploitation and potent storytelling.

The Stranger is the latter. Starring Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris, it’s an atmospheric, suspenseful and evocative thriller, a slow-burn cat-and-mouse game between a suspected child murderer and the cops trying to get their man.

The bearded, sallow outsider Henry (Harris, with a pretty decent Australian accent) is on a bus to Western Australia. On the journey, he and another passenger, Paul (Steve Mouzakis), strike up a conversation.

Paul offers Henry a job with a criminal crew who in return can “clean” Henry’s past with a new passport and documents. Henry meets Mark (Edgerton) when he’s introduced to the larger group and the two begin to bond, going for long drives through a barren outback landscape.

Mark, Paul and the rest are actually police officers and Henry is the target of an investigation into the disappearance and presumed death of a young boy in Queensland.

The Stranger is based on the Daniel Morcombe case. Picture: Netflix

It’s an elaborate trap, weaponising Henry’s desire to be rid of his past and a loneliness he can’t quite confront. The burden of his secret is heavy and you know what they say about confession and the soul.

The Stranger is spare, disciplined storytelling with stark visuals and a repressive tone. The vibe is strained and tense.

Wright doesn’t rely on cheap thrills or hanging questions, he confidently backs in his lead performers’ ability to tease out this unconventional relationship – one man who has to work through his own anxieties to serve a greater purpose, while also forced to defy his instincts as a father to a son similar in age to the victim.

It’s a fascinating exploration of the mental sacrifices one person must endure.

The Stranger is not propaganda for law enforcement institutions because as much as it’s about the collective, the focus is on Edgerton’s Mark, and the individual choices he makes in each moment and how he reacts to Harris’s Henry.

The Stranger stars Joel Edgerton. Picture: Netflix

This isn’t the shoot-em-up, chase-em-down crime thriller we’re so unaccustomed to. The Stranger is a quiet, understated character-driven story that pushes into a much more brutal and effective territory – a psychological dance with a killer.

It’s the whispered question, the knowing glance, the repeated motif of the flaming car.

Inspired by the police operation which caught Queensland schoolboy Daniel Morcombe’s killer, The Stranger has been condemned by the Morcombe family as “morally corrupt and cruel”, an understandable reaction given their pain and grief.

(Everyone’s names were changed and there is no depiction of either the victim or the crime.)

And while The Stranger isn’t didactic in its purpose, it does have one, as all great storytelling does.

The Stranger is a vivid and nuanced reminder that it doesn’t serve anyone to deny that such dark and disturbing aspect of human nature exist.

Rating: 3.5/5

The Stranger is streaming now on Netflix