The Last Wave Australian New Wave screening on the market square

Cast:
Richard Chamberlain (David Burton), Olivia Hamnett (Annie Burton), David Gulpilil (Chris Lee), Frederick Parslow, Vivean Gray, Roy Bara

The first filmmaker to attract local and international attention was Peter Weir, who had worked as an assistant at a Sydney television station and had made a number of short films before his quirky first feature, The Cars that Ate Paris (1974). This was followed by the haunting Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), about the mysterious, and unsolved, disappearance of some schoolgirls at the turn of the century.

The Last Wave was a mystery story with mystical overtones; it was a dramatic and prophetic attempt to harness Aboriginal legends with concern for the environment. The American actor, Richard Chamberlain, plays David Burton, a Sydney lawyer is defending some aboriginal men when he becomes aware of a terrifying prophecy which foreshadows the destruction of the city by a giant wave. Weir's plans to shoot an apocalyptic conclusion to the film were frustrated when the budget simply wouldn't allow such special effects, but he is still able to suggest, with brilliance, a shocking conclusion. David Gulpilil, from Walkabout, gives a charismatic performance in a film which is genuinely strange and mysterious. Russell Boyd's photography is important in establishing a world where nature has become the enemy.

David Stratton