Movie review
January 1, 2021 · 117 min · R
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
The Dry is a 2021 Australian mystery thriller directed by Robert Connolly and based on Jane Harper’s 2016 novel. Federal agent Aaron Falk returns to his drought-hit rural hometown for a funeral and ends up investigating a family murder-suicide that reopens an old unsolved death from his teenage years. The story uses small-town secrets, including one supporting character’s hidden gay relationship revealed as an alibi, and the harsh effects of drought on farming life as realistic plot and atmosphere drivers rather than platforms for social messaging.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for The Dry.
Woke representation / casting
Casting uses Australian actors appropriate to the rural Victorian setting, led by white male Eric Bana as the competent investigator. Limited background diversity is incidental and unemphasized. The hidden gay relationship involves supporting characters without audience-visible identity signaling or quota-style casting choices.
Woke political dialogue
Dialogue stays tightly focused on the investigation, personal histories, town gossip, and alibis. The gay relationship disclosure works strictly as a practical plot device with no lectures, identity affirmation, or activist framing.
Identity-driven story themes
The whodunit explores personal secrets and community suspicion in a drought-stricken town. A supporting subplot reveals a clandestine gay relationship as part of the alibi resolution, adding a layer of concealed personal life consistent with small-town pressures. This stays background and functional to the mystery rather than centering modern identity politics or advocacy. Drought hardships drive realistic atmosphere and logistics without environmental sermons.
Western institutional / cultural critique
The film shows small-town insularity, rumor-spreading, and economic strain under drought as classic thriller ingredients. These elements create tension without reframing into modern activist critiques of patriarchy, whiteness, systemic power, or cultural institutions. Director notes on climate remain secondary to story needs.
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. The film adapts a recent original novel without identity-driven or DEI-style alterations to characters or source material.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
No notable anti-woke or right-leaning complaints in coverage or public discussion accusing the film of pushing woke, DEI, or identity politics messaging. Reception centered on its value as an atmospheric mystery thriller.
Creator track record context
Director Robert Connolly has made films with political or social themes in the past and referenced climate aspects in The Dry, yet keeps the project story-first and commercial. Author Jane Harper writes character-driven rural mysteries without activist patterns. Listed crew members hold standard production roles with no public activist or identity-driven histories.
Production
