The film takes place during the WWII era. Australian indigenous men are promised full citizen rights if they fight in the war and their family will be taken care of. Waru (Shaka Cook) goes off to fight while his wife and child are separated and raped. Things escalate to the point of a Tarantino film.

It got good about an hour into the film when it went from a drama to an action film. It is a timely film about broken government promises, racism, and family separation.

Guide: No swearing or nudity. rape.

Granted, I only glanced at the movie's cover before sitting down to watching it, so I didn't really know what I was in for, as I hadn't heard about the movie prior to watching it, nor did I read the synopsis. I thought it to be a Western of sorts.

Turns out that this wasn't a Western at all. Instead I was sitting down to watch an Australian historical drama. And now I am not overly traversed within the Australian history, so this was all new territory for me. And from what the movie delivered to me in terms of entertainment and enjoyment value, I suppose you have to have been more familiar with the events of Australian history and culture to appreciate the movie fully.

Sure, "The Flood" was watchable, but it was hardly a captivating or overly impressive movie for me. Again, perhaps because I am not familiar with the Australian history. So I can't relate to the events in the movie's storyline, nor did I stand any chance of knowing what to be true or based on true events, and what was fictional make-belief.

The acting in the movie was good, although I felt that the storyline and the slow pacing of the movie was somehow holding back the performers in delivering everything that they could and should.

My rating of "The Flood" settles on a generous four out of ten stars. This movie wasn't really aimed at me as its target audience, and I wasn't really getting swept away, nor could I fully sink myself into the storyline and the events that transpired in the story. But I am sure that writer and director Victoria Wharfe McIntyre managed to dish out a movie that will have a greater appeal to people Down Under.

This is a gruelling watch for the most part. A reasonable person will be hard pressed not to consider their own racism, racism in general and forgiveness after viewing this. A narrative with flashbacks, dream shots and lots of time-slippage, it's stylistically usual. This serves to explain the 'here and now' emotional states of various characters.

The film includes hard-core sexual violence as well as nasty general violence. So much so that by halfway through while watching I wished I had not. But the end of the story provides a pivot, and we see new light. The experience is worth the journey to arrive at the concluding concepts. I'm trying to encourage viewing but without spoilers.

The credits. There's always room for the whimsical to help us deal with life :)