CLEAN

Australia, 2022, 95 minutes, Colour.

Sandra Pankhurst.

Directed by Locklin McLeod.

Background information for Clean indicated that this was to be the story of Sandra Pankhurst and her cleaning company, Trauma Cleaning Service, work in the most difficult of circumstances, death scenes, crime scenes, old people who have hoarded stuff for years.

And, this story was definitely at the core of the film. However, by the end of Clean, we might feel that we have seen several films in one. And all the more interesting and challenging for that.

We are introduced to Sandra Pankhurst, in her 60s, a vigorous personality, not lacking in being forthright, but suffering from lung infections which prevents her from doing her work. She founded the company in 1991, from home, then building up a team and having substantial headquarters in Frankston, Melbourne. And, in some ways another film in itself, is the introduction to members of the staff, interesting and articulate personalities, enlightening us about the work itself, techniques, some training on the physical, biological, infection difficulties of going to such sites. With quite a number of sequences illustrating their work in all its challenge, no reticence here, we feel we know a lot of what cleaning trauma sites entails.

While we have been given some of Sandra Pankhurst’s background, it is only a third of the way through the film when this biography become something else. For those not in the know, it is quite a surprise when we hear the word “transgender”. This means an elaboration of Sandra’s early life, born Peter, marrying, fathering two sons, something not quite right, divorce, and a plunging, extreme, into quite a different world, gender realignment processes, but also entering the world of Drag Queens, prostitution, and the personality and conscience crisis when Sandra is raped.

So, almost a film in itself irrespective of the cleaning company. And, at the end, because Sandra never knew her parents, an adoption agency tracks down her birth mother with the possibility, at this stage of their lives, for meeting each other.

Sandra Pankhurst became quite a significant figure in Melbourne but also beyond, sequences of her speaking at meetings, forthright again, battling on despite increasing illness. Sandra Pankhurst died in July 2021 after a  experience a decline as well as somewhat overwhelmed by the lockdown covid experiences.

A thought came while watching the end of the film: what would Jesus think about Sandra Pankhurst? Jesus would have found this film very interesting. After all, he did not live very long after those meals where he went to dine with the prostitutes and tax collectors so did not know how they turned out. He did have high hopes for them. He would have been very impressed by the lows and highs of Sandra Pankhurst’s life.

(There is an informative Wikipedia entry on Sandra Pankhurst, background, Catholic connections, the downs and lows, her achievements.)