
In this article:
- Released earlier this year in 2022, Thomas M. Wright’s The Stranger is an Australian psychological crime drama based on the real-life investigation into the murder of Daniel Morcombe.
- While the film featured some amazing performances from leading actors Sean Harris and Joel Edgerton, the storyline was a bit monotonous and the ending was underwhelming. Still, for fans of true crime, The Stranger is worth a watch.
- However, not everyone is thrilled about the release of The Stranger. Daniel Morcombe’s surviving parents have criticized the filmmakers, even going so far as to call them “parasites.”
Based on one of the largest true missing persons cases ever in Australia, the psychological crime drama The Stranger premiered on Netflix earlier in 2022. And, while this film featured some supremely impressive acting from the two main leads, Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris, the storyline left a lot to be desired. Still, if you’re interested in true crime and you don’t mind having nightmares about Sean Harris’s bearded face, The Stranger is still worth a watch.
The movie opens with a man named Henry walking onto a bus and sitting down next to who he believes to be a perfect stranger. Little did he know that the conversation he had with this “stranger” would lead to his ultimate downfall. Not long after the opening credits, the audience discovers that Henry is a criminal being investigated for the murder of a 13-year-old boy that occurred 8 years prior. And, while Henry appears to be the protagonist at the beginning of The Stranger, he quickly morphs into a villain (and a pretty terrifying one).

As I mentioned, Thomas M. Wright’s The Stranger is based on a real investigation into the murder of Daniel Morcombe, a 13-year-old child from Queensland, Australia, that concluded with the conviction of Brett Peter Cowan in 2014. The investigation spanned over 8 years and only concluded when a group of undercover operatives coaxed Cowan into joining a fake criminal organization.
Let’s take a look at the events in The Stranger and how they compare to the actual events surrounding the murder of Daniel Morcombe and the arrest of Brett Peter Cowan.
The Stranger Movie Summary
This film opens with a man named Henry Teague (Sean Harris) stepping onto a bus. Not long after sitting down, a man named Paul starts speaking to Henry. The two men strike up a friendship and, once they arrive, Henry even helps Paul buy a new car. At this point in the film, it seems as if Henry is a pretty good guy. However, as the audience soon learns, Paul is actually an undercover police officer trying to elicit a confession from Henry Teague for the murder of a 13-year-old boy.
Having gained the trust of Henry, Paul introduces him to an associate named Mark Frame (Joel Edgerton). Mark, who is also an undercover cop, takes Henry under his wing and pretends to bring him into a secretive criminal organization (which is entirely fictional and made up of police officers involved in the operation). Both Mark and Paul emphasize to Henry that the organization values honesty above all else. Members of the organization question Henry about whether he has any criminal history that could jeopardize their dealings. While he openly admits to having been in and out of prison, he neglects to mention his involvement in the murder of the boy.

Throughout the film, Mark gets closer and closer to Henry on a personal level, trying to nurture enough trust that Henry will admit to the murder of the boy. Meanwhile, Detective Kate Rylett is looking into the alibi that Henry gave the investigating officers back when the murder first occurred in 2002. When Rylett discovers a hole in his alibi, she becomes sure that Henry is the killer.
Finally, Mark takes Henry to see John, the supposed head of the criminal organization. John tells Henry that they know the organization knows about his involvement with the murder in 2002. He tells Henry that they can clear his name, but that he must first tell them every detail of the crime so that they can eliminate every shred of evidence. Henry falls for the trick, at which point he is arrested for the murder.
The Truth Behind The Stranger
As I mentioned, The Stranger is a dramatized version of a real-life investigation. In writing the script for this film, writer and director Thomas M. Wright leaned heavily on the facts listed in the non-fiction book The Sting: The Undercover Operation That Caught Daniel Morcombe’s Killer by Kate Kyriacou.

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This book goes into the details of the Mr. Big operation that was used to catch Brett Peter Cowan for the murder of Daniel Morcombe. A Mr. Big operation involves undercover police officers creating a fictitious criminal organization and then seducing the suspect into joining it. The suspect is then required to divulge information about their criminal history as a prerequisite for joining the organization.
While all of the names of the people involved in the real-life case were changed for the movie, Wright’s screenplay stays pretty close to the other facts of this case. For example, James Liston (the murdered boy in the film) was the same age as Daniel Morcombe and was taken from beneath an overpass in Queensland just like Morcombe.

We also know that a real undercover agent did befriend Brett Peter Cowan and bring him into a fictitious crime ring just like in the movie. This agent was known as Paul Fitzsimmons; however, his identity has been heavily protected and it’s likely that that’s not his real name. It’s also impossible to determine whether the real agent had a son like Joel Edgerton’s character did in the film.
Brett Peter Cowan was convicted of murder in 2014 and is currently being held in Wolston Correctional Centre. Like most pedophiles, he’s not very well-liked in prison. In 2016, another inmate poured boiling water on his head, leaving him with burns over 15% of his body. In 2018, another inmate stabbed him in the neck with a sharpened toothbrush.
As a side note, the police released the actual video of Brett Peter Cowan’s arrest several years ago.
Negative Response to The Stranger
While The Stranger has received a generally positive response from film critics, there are many out there who are upset that the movie was ever made in the first place, namely, the Morcombe family. In July of 2022, Denise Morcombe (Daniel’s mother) tweeted:
“The movie ‘The Stranger’ is not supported by the Morcombe family. Individuals who make money on a heinous crime are parasites. They are callously disrespectful to Daniel, the DMF & the Morcombe family. We find the making of the movie morally corrupt and cruel. Shame on you.”
Thomas M. Wright, however, has suggested that the film is not a glorification of the heinous murder. In fact, the film is not really about the crime itself at all. In his own words, Wright said, “Clearly, the reason for the film is an unnameable act of violence that embodies the worst of what human animals are capable of. But that is not the subject of the film.”
Indeed, The Stranger focuses far more heavily on the investigative operation than the details of the murder itself. The film is more focused on the development of a trustful relationship between Mark and Henry than it is about Henry’s horrible crime.
Does that justify Wright in making this film? Perhaps it lessens the blow. However, I would argue that Wright absolutely should have consulted Daniel Morcombe’s surviving parents before going forward with this film. And, now that the film has been made, I believe that a portion of its earnings should be given over to Daniel’s parents as well.

Regardless of the morality of the existence of The Stranger, it still has some artistic merit, mostly due to the outstanding performances of Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris. The storyline, in my opinion, lacked the drama and conclusiveness that I was expecting. However, The Stranger is still worth a watch, especially for fans of true crime.