Filmed in Kalgoorlie and the surrounding red dust landscape while Covid was making life difficult in the rest of the country, Kid Snow centres on a little known nugget of Australian history – a travelling carnival that featured tent-boxing.
Taking us back to 1971, Irish brothers Kid (Billy Howle) and Rory Snow (Tom Bateman) travel to outback towns and set up their tent. An interesting aside is that the tent used in the film is authentic – found in a shed just outside Dubbo and belonging to the owner and operator of Roy Bell’s Boxing Tent.
While Rory gets the punters to pay to go into the tent to watch and challenges the locals to step into the ring, Kid is the washed-up boxer who is determined not to actually hurt anyone, although things often got out of control.
Into the mix steps single mother Sunny (Phoebe Tonkin) who is fleeing domestic violence in Sydney with her young son. The manipulative Rory persuades her to entertain the local men in the testosterone-filled tent as a provocative dancer. Sunny also sets one brother against the other and makes them confront their dysfunctional alliance.
As well as the physical violence that defines Kid’s life, there is also the mental anguish and the guilt of a past tragedy that is weighing down heavily upon him. Alcohol has been a contributing factor to his physical decline, but an offer of a grudge match against a man who beat him ten years ago is motivation to get fit again.
A match against Hammer, the current Commonwealth Boxing Champion (Tristan Gorey who is a real boxer) would be very different from the carnival boxing in the tent with local yokels who were just as unfit as Kid.
Two years in the editing room has resulted in a slick, engaging film about breaking the cycle of loss and regret. Set in an unforgettable and unforgiving landscape, with unforgettable characters, it is also about camaraderie beyond racial barriers.
Lezly Herbert
