ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

IN A TIME of uncertainty or crisis, the only things you can cling on to are personal integrity and a sense of community.

That is the hard lesson learnt by the residents of Jindabyne in Australian director Ray Lawrence’s haunting companion piece to his award-winning comeback feature, ‘Lantana’ (2001).

Like ‘Lantana’, there is a dead body, a killer and a mystery, but Lawrence sets aside the pursuit of obvious genre elements for a rewarding, character-based exploration of moral fibre, faith and fortitude.

Based on the Raymond Carver story that also formed part of ‘Short Cuts’ (1993), ‘Jindabyne’ depicts a place where everyone is haunted by the past. One weekend, Stewart (Gabriel Byrne) and three friends head to the high country for their annual fishing trip.

Stewart discovers the body of a young Aboriginal girl floating in the water. Rather than immediately reporting the discovery, the men carry on fishing and enjoy the weekend.

The decision provokes outrage in the local community and prompts Stewart’s wife Claire (Laura Linney) to question the entire basis of their marriage.

Smartly written and beautifully played by a flawless cast, the film’s strength lies in the way it allows us to see everyone as an individual with their own reasons for why they act the way they do.

We may not always admire them, but we do understand them. We also appreciate that this one callous act is indicative of all the past history and pain that still creates divisions between the white population and the Aboriginal Australians.

Selected nationwide release

Director: Ray Lawrence
Stars: Gabriel Byrne, Laura Linney, Deborra-lee Furness, John Howard, Leah Purcell, Stelios Yiakmisends
Screenwriter: Beatrix Christian, based on the story So Much Water So Close To Home by Raymond Carver
Certificate: 15
Running time: 124 mins
Country: Australia
Year: 2006

© Allan Hunter, 2007