The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

"Am I a bad parent?" She asked and the husband said this. At the moment, I was like what the... Her daughter is missing and husband said this? But yes, she got it from her. What in the world does the mother who lost her daughter kiss an adult man who had relationship with her underage daughter and/or kiss a cop? And after her sexual advance was refused by the cop, she said "what's wrong with me?" Why does she needs to have sex with her husband after the visit to "box"?These scenes just do not make sense. It's easy to lose focus b/c of these. What's the point here? Is this about finding her daughter/son or mother's internal struggle to understand? I think it's the latter, and if that's the case, still these scenes bother me too much. Why does everything in this town have to do with sex?

Nicole Kidman is stunningly raw and moving in this haunting drama. People that have dismissed this film don't appear to truly understand it. A real reflection of outback Australia living. The cinematography matches the tone of the film to a tee, and Kidman gives the most raw performances of all time. The film is open-ended, leaving the outcome to the interpretation of the viewer, another feature of the film which is another reason why this film divides audiences. For me, it left a lasting impression on me - a film about loss of innocence and the simmering tension of slow living in the outback. View the film with an open, patient mind and this slow-burning drama will certainly leave it's mark on you.

A dusty and stuffy Australian drama by first-time director Kim Farrant, who echoes the Outback-set aura of some of her country's best films—Picnic at Hanging Rock, Walkabout, and A Cry in the Dark. Nicole Kidman, who's rarely spoken in her native accent on screen a handful of times since her film debut plays in a perfect way the role of Catherine, a mother to two teenagers in an Aussie desert town. Kidman's best performances have often been as grieving moms and on this occasion provides another excellent acting. On a visual scale, Strangerland naturally takes advantage of the landscape's harsh light, and its quality rises with an arrestingly shot sandstorm happening around the movie's halfway mark. Fiennes as well acts (almost) perfectly but what in my opinion matters the most is the suitable location and atmosphere.

The Parkers move to a remote Australian desert town. Matthew (Joseph Fiennes) is a pharmacist and has a struggling marriage with Catherine (Nicole Kidman). They moved after their promiscuous underage daughter Lily had an affair with her teacher and Matthew beat him up. Lily continues to be sexually loose in the new town hanging out with the skaters. Their son Tommy sleepwalks and Lily follows him out into the night. The next day, Catherine discovers that neither of them have been going to school and both are missing. A sand storm strikes. They go to the local sheriff David Rae (Hugo Weaving). The family's dysfunction and the town's darker sides are slowly revealed.I can understand all the hate. This movie starts promising some kind of mystery but it slowly switches to something different. The weirdness starts with Catherine aggressively initiating sex while her children is missing. It is really off-putting until I quickly realized that this movie is about Catherine who is borderline. Matthew is at times her enabler and has his own volatile issues. Lily's wild nature has an origin and their troubles started well before the events of this movie. This does continue with the mystery of the disappearances but this isn't solely about that. The tone is atmospheric and off-kilter. My biggest problem for me is that the movie is too ambitious. There are lots of side characters but I find them all fascinating. It's a strange movie but I like its ambitious differentness.