Emily (Ebony Nave) is a teenage girl who is a victim of ‘the system’, shunted from one foster home to another, finding solace only in drugs, alcohol and the dark recesses of the city nightclubs she frequents. She is also self harms as a release from her pain. This is a young girl going nowhere fast.
After being expelled from school, she has finally reached her breaking point and she takes the family car and runs. When she breaks down just outside a small country town, her life takes a drastic turn. She is befriended by the young service station operator Shane (Pete Valley) who discovers her sleeping in the bathroom and offers her a safe place to stay. She reluctantly accepts and as she slowly becomes part of his social group, she wonders if she may have found peace at last.
Shane has had tragedy in his own life and so the pair form an increasingly close bond. But one terrible night of violence threatens to tear it all apart… This is a movie of lost souls, people who become so absorbed in their own pain, they cannot move forward. When they find a kindred spirit, only a leap of faith can offer salvation for both.
Made on a shoe string budget, the story is uncomplicated but very deep and tender on many levels. There are no script tricks and the acting, though shakey at first, improves as the actors become more comfortable with their characters and each other (and us with them).
An Aussie indie is always a lovely thing for me so I urge you to give this movie a look, it has some lovely moments and at 82 minutes is an easy watch. I for one will be on the lookout for more movies from Director Ashlee Jensen and writers Jennifer Coghlan and Terrance M. Young.
Review Score: THREE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
500 Miles is available on DVD now.
———-
