Heaven’s Burning 1997

Japanese bride Midori Takada [Youki Kudoh] arrives in Sydney with her new husband Yukio [Kenji Isomura], and immediately signals that she believes the marriage is a mistake. She uses the honeymoon as a chance to escape, a choice that kicks off a tense sequence of events set against the Australian backdrop. Colin O’Brien [Russell Crowe] is an experienced getaway driver who is drawn into a dangerous scheme when an Australian-Afghan family hires him to help rob a bank. The heist spirals out of control: one member is killed, and Midori happens to be in the bank at the same time, where she is seized as a hostage during the escape. The plan to dispose of her by the Afghan faction is swift, but Colin refuses to go along with that fate.

In the intense moment that follows, Colin shoots and kills one of the brothers and traps the other, Mahood [Robert Mammone], at gunpoint as they flee. Midori and Colin escape together, bound by a need to survive rather than trust, and the unlikely pair forms a fragile bond that pushes them toward distant horizons. Colin’s instinct to protect Midori clashes with the pursuing authorities and the Afghan family’s vow of revenge, turning their journey into a road-based chase across New South Wales.

Colin wants to reach his father, Cam [Ray Barrett], at his ranch, hoping the familiar presence of a parent might bring a sense of steadiness to the volatile situation. Midori, however, chooses to stay by Colin’s side, even as the two conspicuously plan another bank robbery to fund their trek toward safety and a fresh start. The pursuit intensifies as Boorjan [Petru Gheorghiu], the patriarch, and Mahood, along with their father, vow vengeance for the earlier killings, complicating Colin and Midori’s fledgling partnership with a looming, violent reckoning. The police, already aware of the Afghan family’s illegal activities, close the net, adding the pressure of law enforcement to the dangerous game.

Across the expansive landscape of New South Wales, the couple presses on while the Afghan pursuers close in. The Afghan faction catches up and tortures Colin, yet he endures and manages to eliminate Boorjan and Mahood, delivering a brutal blow to the people who hunted him. Yukio [Kenji Isomura], meanwhile, learns of his wife’s actions and sets out to find her, killing as he goes in a desperate search for Midori.

Colin and Midori finally reach Cam’s ranch, where they briefly savor the calm of a new refuge. There, their relationship deepens into a romance as they allow themselves to believe in a possible future together. They leave the ranch to seek the sea, hoping that distance and water might wash away the danger that has shadowed their every move. But Yukio reaches the ranch soon after, confronting Cam with a stark choice about Midori’s whereabouts. Cam’s response speaks of karma, hinting that Yukio’s cruelty will not go unpunished, and the confrontation grows into a deadly reckoning.

In a fit of rage, Yukio drowns Cam rather than simply shooting him, a moment that intensifies the chase as Yukio closes in on the lovers. After a tense sequence of events, Yukio finally catches up with Colin and Midori; he shoots Colin in the torso, and Midori retrieves a gun from their car to retaliate. She shoots Yukio, who replies that he still loves her, a claim she refutes by saying that love is something Yukio does not understand. Midori then kills him, ending his grasp on the relationship with a final act of defiance.

The pursuit by the police intensifies as the lovers try to outrun the law, with Midori behind the wheel as Colin’s life drains away beside her in the passenger seat. They reach the shore, but disaster strikes when their car overturns and erupts into flames. In a final, devastating moment, Midori shoots herself as the car explodes, and the police watch the blaze unfold, bearing witness to two lives wrecked by a cascade of violence and a desperate bid for escape.

• Midori Takada [Youki Kudoh]

• Yukio [Kenji Isomura]

• Colin O’Brien [Russell Crowe]

• Mahood [Robert Mammone]

• Boorjan [Petru Gheorghiu]

• Cam [Ray Barrett]

• Moffat [Matthew Dyktynski]

• Sharon [Susan Prior]

• Jonah [Colin Hay]

• Bishop [Anthony Phelan]

• Gullbuddin [Salvatore Coco]

• Hotel Manager [Edmund Pegge]

• Bellboy [Kiri Paramore]

• Store Owner [Norman Kaye]

• Gloria [Kate Fitzpatrick]