Jindabyne

Rating: M - Contains Violence & Offensive Language.
Duration: 123 mins.
Genre: Festival & Foreign.
Actors: Gabriel Byrne, Laura Linney, Chris Haywood, John Howard, Leah Purcell, Deborra Lee-Furness, Eva Lazzaro, Stelios Yiakmis, Simon Stone.
Director: Ray Lawrence.
Release Date: Available Now.

Synopsis
Four men from a rural Australian town go on their annual fishing trip, at a remote location in the hills. It’s a fair hike to the campsite, so when they discover the dead body of an aboriginal girl in the river, they’re not sure what to do. In the end they decide there is nothing to be done an continue with there planned fishing.

The Reality
Jindabyne doesn’t start off as I was expecting it to. For some reason I was expecting an adult version of Mean Creek; but Jindabyne goes much deeper than that.

It starts off feeling more than Wolf Creek, but instead of gratuitous violence, we are treated to an electrifying performance of a small community coming to terms with the grave misjudgements of four of it’s men, along with the terrifying reality that they must all now face the hidden demons that have been lurking below the surface.

To say that Jindabyne is all about death would be a misrepresentation, but death permeates the entire movie, from the obvious to the subtler, there are signs of death everywhere.

Death however des not have the final say, as Jindabyne is a story of dealing with our own fears and losses, be they physical loss or emotional loss, the loss of dreams, the loss of love, the loss of community.

And it’s through dealing with our loss that we can find healing, not only for ourselves, but for the community as a whole.

The Look
As this was a screener, the quality is not intended to represent the final product. Such is life. But the great thing is that the quality wasn’t as issue for Jindabyne, as the story itself was plenty to keep you glued to the edge of your seat, and with some great acting and stunning natural backdrops, the whole feel of the movie was amazing.

Form time to time however, the thematic music seemed a little odd and out of place, but most of these was contained in the first part of the movie and was soon forgotten as the story get down to business.

Food for thought
If we don’t treat the dead with respect, what hope do we have of living?