Set in a stunning, popular tourist trap of a small town this film does extremely well in dealing with the sensitive issue of aboriginal/ white relations in Australia.
    Opening with the premeditated and brutal, if not shown, rape and murder of a young aboriginal woman by a psychotic, bearded electrician we then join the happy lives of nearby White families. Jindabyne is an incredibly beautiful town and at first it is easy to deduce that life is pretty good for its residents, oblivious to the horrific event that has happened on the outskirts. This doesn’t last long. Every single character is dynamic and very well played. Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne as Clare and Stewart Kane are brilliant but equally outstanding were the child actor’s performances, Sean Rees-Wemyss as their son Tom. His disturbed friend Caylin-Calandria (surely a Wednesday Addams in the making), whose mother has died, is played astonishingly well by Eva Lazzaro. Together the children really evoke their fantasy vision of everything, the town under the water (Jindabyne was relocated in the 1960s due to the damming of the Snowy River) to more sinister goings on.
     Stewart and his friends go on a fishing trip and find the abandoned murder victim. It is suggested that they’re being watched, presumably by the psycho, Gregory (played superbly by Chris Haywood) and the threat of him killing again never entirely goes away. For some reason, regarding which the characters wish they knew why as much as we do, they tie the corpse up and fish for a day without reporting it. Even more strangely, Stewart goes back to the river in the night to stroke it (a point that apparently as more psycho-sexual implications in the original story beyond him standing with his groin next to her face in the water). From here on in, the film is pretty miserable, but not drawn-out. It looks at relationships, between friends and lovers, taciturn men and lonely women. It also deftly covers the need for healing after a town suffers a traumatic event and the backlash of the aboriginal community when they find out that the fishermen didn’t report the girl’s death immediately, plus Claire’s subsequent quest for the truth and forgiveness.
What I found most impressive was the comedic element of the film, there are very funny moments during the film’s bleakest scenes – when a film deals with a sensitive issue such as racial tension and as sober and horrible a thing as rape – the lighter, funnier moments are all the more affecting and brilliant. (continued...)















    The film would be better minus the last 5 minutes, but one can understand why it has been included out of respect for aboriginal tradition (which the film-makers had to closely observe when shooting in many parts of the outback) – it includes the victim’s sister singing at her memorial service, a Mariah Carey style song that is out of sync with the rest of the film. Also the final shot, which seems an unnecessary subversion of the end of Hitchcock’s Psycho, also over eggs the pudding.
That aside here is a very touching, thought provoking and beautiful, if sad film. Following the success of Lantana, Ray Lawrence is establishing himself as a very excellent director.