The Last Wave

Peter Weir
1977

Much like he would in 1985's Harrison Ford vehicle "Witness" (1985), Peter Weir employs an exotic and offbeat culture to color his drama. Whereas Ford lams it in Pennsylvania's Amish community, the lawyer at the center of "The Last Wave" deals with a group closer to Weir's own experience - urban Australian aboriginals. The picture maintains a degree of mystery and danger from the get-go, but the steadily spiraling cosmic freakout that ensues is enough to make Haruki Murakami smile. The use of water as apocalyptic agent is excellently conveyed in it's drearily constant menace. In the first few shots the dusty outback gets deluged before being pounded by fist-sized hail stones. Soon the downpour drifts to the city where it batters the windshields and roofs of Sydney's residents - and even more violently within the mind of hero Richard Chamberlain. Aboriginal lore gives the film a nice hook, but it's the visual treatment of the sullen tight-lipped natives that really ups the intrigue. It's a nicely offbeat film, but as far as Weir is concerned I still prefer "Picnic at Hanging Rock" (1975).