The New Boy

Cate Blanchett is mesmerising as a feverish nun, in Warwick Thornton’s striking tale of spiritual worlds colliding in 1940s Australia.

In 1940s Australia, the religiously feverish Sister Eileen (a mesmerising Cate Blanchett) presides over indigenous boys deliberately orphaned by the authorities. The arrival of a ‘new boy’ unsettles the monastery but enlivens Sister Eileen’s fervour for Christ to be his guide. Six years after his searing Western, Sweet Country, and the stunning Samson and Delilah in 2009, Warwick Thornton returns with an artful and fiercely political tale of spiritual worlds colliding. Aswan Reid is magnetic as the titular new boy in a performance that rivals his acclaimed co-stars and heralds a stunning new screen talent.