A CENTRAL Coast filmmaker’s award-winning debut feature has earned an Australian theatrical release and will screen at Lake Haven’s Metro Cinema from Thursday.
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Lliam Worthington wrote, directed and co-produced One Less God.
The story was inspired by the real life events of the three-day siege in Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, in 2008, when 166 people were killed, and more than 600 injured.
Wothington describes the terrorist siege as “India’s 9/11”.
But the film is neither a timeline of the events that played out in the tragedy, nor a Hollywood-style reworking where the leading man overcomes all manner of villains and odds to prevail.
“We wanted to get to the heart of the tragedy, and also beyond it - to the people on both ends of the guns,” Worthington said.
It seems Worthington, his cast and crew have hit the mark.
One Less God won for Best Film at the 2017 Byron Bay Film Festival, and received both the Grand Jury Prize – Best Feature, and the Industry Choice Award at Los Angeles’ 2017 Dances with Films Festival - the only feature in the 20-year history of the festival to receive both honours.
It has been released in Japan, and been sold into Korea, China, UK, USA and Australia.
Worthington, who lives in Wamberal and spent some of his childhood living in Budgewoi, said he felt it was important to humanise the terrorists and not simply portray them as “monsters”.
“When we just see ‘monsters’ people dismiss it. They tuck it away. They don’t have to deal with it,” he said.
Monsters, after all, were beyond reasoning. Not worthy of our consideration.
“We have to be able to see the humanity and the inhumanity in each of us in order to have any hope of finding the solutions we all want to living in a more peaceful and harmonious world,” he said.
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Worthington has enjoyed travelling overseas with the film, and regularly participates in Q&A sessions about One Less God.
“Everyone says ‘How did you get this highly international diverse cast?’” he said.
He delights in fielding that one.
“Well, they are a highly international and diverse cast, but they are also an all-Australian cast – every single one of them,” he said.
They bring to life the hostages, international guests, the hotel staff, and terrorists portrayed in the film.
“We’re getting feedback from audiences and everyone is raving about the performances – as well they should be.”
As a youth, Worthington said several films left their mark.
“The Last of the Mohicans was a really interesting film for me,” he said.
“I was only 14 or 15 when I saw it in a cinema, and it was that big, beautiful, sweeping epic, and Daniel Day-Lewis did a wonderful job, but it wasn’t the action film that it was first billed as.”
What caught Worthington’s attention was how the film addressed the spirituality of the Mohicans.
“It was about their spirituality as it was fading from this world. That really moved me in a different way.
“That made me realise you can do cinema that’s still high-adventure, and sweeping, and epic, but really does have the heart to tell a story that has a real profundity to it.”
Schindler’s List and most of Stanley Kubrick’s movies also influenced the young Worthington.
So what does Worthington hope audiences take away from his film?
“It’s not the pain. It’s not the tragedy. It’s not the loss. And it’s not the fear – although they are inherent to a film like this – but it’s really that greater sense of emotional catharsis. That place you get to emotionally where you want change. You want things to get better,” he said.
One Less God will screen at Lake Haven’s Metro Cinema from November 1 to 8. It will screen at Avoca Beach Picture Theatre on November 18 and will be followed by a Q&A with Worthington.
