We Bury the Dead

Plot of We Bury the Dead: The Americans accidentally detonate an experimental weapon off the east coast of Tasmania which kills the whole population of the island instantly, requiring teams of volunteers to go to the place and bury the dead. But there is a problem, some of them are re-animated as zombies requiring the army to be called to terminate them with gunfire. Ava, an American physiotherapist married to an Australian businessman joins the clean up party with an agenda to find her husband who was at a health centre in the south of the island and is therefore probably dead. In flashback we see that they had fallen out, mainly over their inability to become parents and Ava has feelings of guilt. She is told she cannot go south because the area is still burning. Nevertheless, with Clay, her teammate, they steal a motorcycle and hit the road. While resting at a service station they are attacked by a zombie, but are saved by Riley, a lone soldier. He also has an agenda.

Content: No sex or nudity, but I seem to recollect that Clay smokes a joint once. The dead are creepy, and the zombies even more so, but we do not see them terminated by the military. Clay and Ava on the motorbike zoom across the island weaving their way around crashed and broken down vehicles and occasionally coming across zombies. One digs a grave for his family and allows Ava to kill him with a shovel. There are various scenes of Ava and her husband Mitch not getting on.  Once Ava is captured by the soldier it becomes obvious that he is unhinged, and his wife is pregnant and possibly a zombie because he has zombies chained up for him to study them.  Riley, the soldier, says that Clay has run away, and sure enough he has.

A View: This outing seems to have been well liked, but probably by Australian critics. We film fans expect a lot from our movies these days and even with Daisy Ridley in the mix it did not quite hit it. The director seemed to be telling us all the time, look, look I’ve got Daisy Ridley here! And he does have her, but beyond her presence the whole film is a bit flat. You will probably find yourself waiting for something exciting to happen. Even lovers of Tasmania will be a bit frustrated because the film was shot in western Australia. So maybe a watch while you are doing something else.

Fun Fact: I quite liked the idea that the star is an English actress, playing an American in a film based in Australia.