Customer Reviews

The Last Wave [VHS]

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4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"What are dreams?" asks lawyer David Burton (Richard Chamberlain) of his client Chris Lee (David Gulpilil), an Australian Aborigine on trial for manslaughter.

"I will show you a dream," he responds. "A dream is a shadow...of something real."

And, when you think about it, so are films. They are literally shadows of something real - recorded on transparent strips and projected onto screens with bright lights. Watching a good film is like dreaming while awake.

Peter Weir's The Last Wave has very much the texture of a beautiful, disturbing dream. Before going Hollywood and losing his artistic teeth, he made evocative little gems like this one - full of unformed dread and pregnant with the possibility of mythic revelation.

The plot concerns a routine bar fight between some Aborigines in Sydney, Australia, that ends in the death of one of them. Lawyer David Burton is called in as a Public Defender. No big deal - except that the case seems to involve a lot more than a Saturday night celebration gone horribly awry. It may, in fact, have everything to do with an ancient prophecy marking the End of the Current Age - and a catastrophe of alarming proportions. Can Burton unravel the mystery of the prophecy - and of his own true nature - in time to avert the End of the World as we know it?

Like a dream, The Last Wave unfolds with its own kind of logic - a logic that finds only a vague counterpart to our everyday sort of concrete reasoning. It's persuasive, too, the way any powerful dream always is. It makes us believe dialogue like I quoted at the top of this review, even though people never really talk that way in real life. It also forcefully reminds us that there is more than one culture in the world, and that we assume we are superior simply by virtue of our technology and science, at our own peril.

In many ways, The Last Wave makes me think of Werner Herzog, who also makes deliberately paced, dream-like films about cultural clashes. If you enjoy Herzog, give this film a look.

As a final note, The Last Wave probably deserves a thoughtful DVD release with a decent commentary track. Hint, hint, Criterion...

David Burton (Richard Chamberlain) is a well respected lawyer and family man living and practicing in Sydney, Australia. Of Occidental origin and Anglican faith, David has never been one overly concerned with the intangible, unexplainable mysteries of life. However his predictable, concrete world has recently been disrupted by a series of vivid and disturbing dreams that have called into question the very nature of reality. Unable to sleep for fear of more night visions he buries himself in his work.

His Stepfather, Reverend Burton (Frederick Parslow), notices the change in David's demeanor during a weekend visit with the family and questions his Stepson on the matter. David confides in him with the statement, "I'm having bad dreams." As a conversation ensues David is reminded of a series of repetitive nightmares he had as a child. He would awaken in the morning to tell his parents that taxicab drivers came to him in dreams and took him on long drives during the night. That's why he was always tired in the morning.

Despite the ongoing dreams and a serious lack of sleep life must go on. He is assigned his first homicide case, he is to defend a group of aborigines in what appears to be a tribal ritual murder. The night before he is to meet his new clients he is visited by a young aborigine in another vivid dream. The unidentified man is holding a triangular rock containing some cryptic carvings and symbols. He stretches out his arm towards David as though offering him the stone.

This dream unexpectedly and dramatically takes human form the next day when he meets Chris Lee (David Gulpilil), one of the murder suspects. Chris just happens to be the aborigine in his dream. David invites the young man to his home for dinner in an attempt to discover the truth not only about the murder case, but the meaning of dreams. When Chris arrives for dinner that evening he is not alone. He has brought Charlie (Nandjiwarra Amagula), an aborginal "clever man" or shaman (who earns a living in the city as a taxicab driver).

Thus is the beginning of a journey into a reality that Western Civilization has all but forgotten about. This is the "The Dreamtime" a separate but equally valid stream of consciousness existing alongside our waking world. David is soon to discover that his dreams are inexplicably connected to this archaic world and he is about to play an important role in either the continuation or destruction of both worlds.

In my estimation this is without question director Peter Weirs' signature film. He has captured on film something I wouldn't have thought possible, giving us a brief but illuminating firsthand glimpse into the very heart of aboriginal shamanism. The conversation concerning the 'nature of dreams' between David, Chris and Charlie is one of the most fascinating and mesmerizing mystical moments in cinematic history.

Richard Chamberlain is perfect in the role of David Burton. His ability to express his inner turmoil and fear of the unknown with the absolute minimal amount of dialogue or gesture attests to just how accomplished an actor he is. David Gulpilil (Walkabout, Crocodile Dundee & Rabbit-Proof Fence) is also the undisputed best choice for the part of Chris, providing a most striking contrast with Richard Chamberlain in both worldview and physical appearance.

However the real star of the film is Nandjiwarra Amagula. This of course is the ultimate in typecasting because Nandjiwarra is in fact an authentic aboriginal shaman. Truly a man of immense spiritual and physical magnetism, his mere presence on camera is capable of evoking the Dreamtime experience. If you have ever had the desire to pursue the shamanic path look deeply into the countenance of Nandjiwarra before you decide. Those eyes will tell you everything you need to know.

Our modern, rational culture floats like a small boat on a huge, dark ocean of unguessable depth. Richard Chamberlain, in perhaps his best role ever, is a lawyer specializing in the arid technicalities of corporate taxation who is, by chance [well no, not really, as it turns out] drawn into the Shamanic world of the tribal aborigines who, unknown to most people, still inhabit Sydney, Australia. Little by little, the comfortable everyday world in which Chamberlain's character lived starts to dissolve, or at least become transparent, before the unguessably ancient and very different world around it. Meanwhile nature is acting very strange, paralleling the breakdown in Chamberlain's character. A wonderful movie, full of rich metaphors and images (including the final one) that remain in the mind long after the film is over. Even the soundtrack: some aboriginal instruments, some very nervous-sounding Australian-Irish dance music, and some spare but oh-so-telling chords, can stay with you for days. What are dreams anyway and what do we buy by living in a daylight world where we cannot see them? Weir suggests some provacative and disturbing answers.

I saw this film when it first came out in 1977. It blew my mind then. I recently saw it on television and it still blew my mind once again. Pretty good for a film that is over 20 years old. This is a fantastic film that covers a variety of genres. It's a mystery, it's a thriller, it's science fiction, it's a drama. It should appeal to anyone who like the strange and the wonderful. Richard Chamberlain is fantastic as David Burton a lawyer who finds himself representing a group of young Aborigines accused of a brutal murder. However this is not just any murder, and Chamberlain finds himself drawn into a battle between the old and the modern when he finds out that the man's death is connected to the theft of some ancient stones that depict the end of mankind. To add to his problems Chamberlain is having strange dreams, dreams in which he is surrounded by water and he is drawn to the Aborigines and the secret world of dreamtime and ancient prophesies. For David Burton is part of what is happening, he is part of something that is old as old as time, history is repeating itself and the Last Wave is about to fall... This film is packed galore with symbolism, pretty good special effects and damn good acting. David Gulpilil is great as the young Aborigine torn between the past and the present and Nanjiwarra Amagula is superb as Charlie, a pure blooded Aborigine who just might have answers to secrets spanning thousands of years. This is a thinking-person's film. It is slow moving but suspenseful and the plot is sometimes complicated but never confusing. Well worth adding to your video collection if you want something excitingly different and intellectually stimulating.

Hollywood cinema is narrative cinema, and most American-born directors are so busy telling a story that they forget to fill the screen with something interesting to look at. Australian-born Peter Weir avoided this mistake in his early work, producing films with just a sliver of plot but with imagery that has haunted some of us viewers for decades.

Both of Weir's best films were made, in Australia, in the 1970's. THE LAST WAVE (1977) may even be superior to PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (1975), since the former ends too soon and the latter doesn't end quite soon enough.

Weir's immigration to Hollywood in the 1980's drove most, but not all, of his early cinematic poetry out of WITNESS (1985) and THE MOSQUITO COAST (1986). His Hollywood films of the 90's were(surprise!) visually thin and plot heavy.

Spooky, isn't it?

I have seen this film in 1977 or 1978, long time ago. I was stunned then. During the last year I often go back (mainly in music and films) to see whether I can recover some of the old magic. Believe me, the magic of this film is still there, no matter if it seems a bit old-fashioned, that is no surprise, 22-23 years have passed since it was released. It is the kind of film that carries you away and makes you reconsinder some things in life that you were taking for granted. Great music score by Charles Wain (by the way does anybody know what has happened to this man?).

You know the people in the movie are in for it when king-sized hailstones fall from a clear blue sky. In fact, the weather stays pretty bad throughout this atmospheric thriller, and only lawyer Chamberlain has the answer. But he's too much the European rationalist, I gather, to get in touch with that inner being that reveals itself through dreams.

Hauntingly original mystery heavy on the metaphysics from director-writer Peter Weir. Already he had shown skill at flirting with other dimensions in Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975). Here it's the arcane world of the Australian Aboriginies that confronts the tightly ordered world of the predominant whites. Something strange is going on inside the Aboriginie community when they kill one of their number for no apparent reason. Yuppie lawyer Chamberlain is supposed to defend them in a white man's court. But the more he looks into things, the more mysterious things get, and the more interested a strange old Aboriginal man gets in him. And then there're those scary dreams that come and go at odd times.

Well structured screenplay deepens interest throughout. One reason the movie works is the background normalcy of Chamberlain's wife and little daughters. Audiences can easily identify with them. And when their little world runs into forces beyond the usual, the normalcy begins to buckle, and we get the feeling of worlds beginning to collide. Chamberlain underplays throughout, especially during the underground tour where I think he should have shown more growing awareness than he does. After all, it's the picking up of the mask that holds the key (I believe) to the riddle, yet his reaction doesn't really register the revelation.

Of course, the notion of nature striking back has a certain resonance now, thirty years later. In the film, the notion is wrapped in a lot of entertaining hocus-pocus, but the subject itself remains a telling one. One way of bringing out a central irony is the symbolism of the opening scene. A big white SUV barrels past an Aboriginal family, leaving them in the historical dust. The terrain looks like an interior tribal reservation of no particular importance to the coastal fleshpots where industry dwells. Yet, it's also a region most likely to survive anything like a destructive last wave. Perhaps there's something about past and future to think about here.

Anyway, this is a really good movie that will probably stay with you.

This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

The Last Wave is a true Australian classic suspense film.

Peter Weir, known most recently for Master and Commander, does an excellent job directing this film. It co-stars Gulpilil who is known for his role of the Aboriginal teen in Walkabout, also relesed by Criterion.

In the film, a lawyer (Richard Chamberlain) defends a group of Aboriginies accused of killing another. While doing so he has nightmares and hallucinations of a cataclysmic deluge. In the dreams there is an Aboriginie who offers him a stone. He later meets the same Aboriginie he saw in his dreams. This gives him the suspicion that he is clairavoiant, may be part of an ancient Aboriginal prophecy, and that he is a messianical figure in those prophecies.

The film has some very excellent music in it which reminds me of similar music featured in 1980's indie films. Specifically, "Manhunter" and "The Terminator." The music is electronic and very suspenseful and moving. It was composed by Charles Wain and different than *but just as good as) the music in Weir's film "Picnic at Hanging Rock."

The acting in the film is excellent and s beautifully photographed.

The special features on the DVD are antheatrical trailer and an interview with the director Peter Weir.

Fans of Australian cinema and regulars alike will love this film!

"The Last Wave" is one of my favorite films. Simultaneously eerie and meditative, it takes you and your guide, Australian lawyer David Burton (Richard Chamberlain, an American with more of a British than an Aussie accent), into a mysterious and hallucinatory world, that of the Dream Time. Defending aboriginals accused of ritual murder, Burton is swallowed by fierce and eventually overwhelming forces of the natural and the supernatural, forces that seem to foreshadow apocalyptic events. Neither of you will ever be the same again.

While the movie has some similarities with Weir's other Australian masterpiece, the hypnotic "Picnic at Hanging Rock," it is, for me, far more suspenseful and powerful. Its use of time-lapse photography calls to mind a third great visual film, Koyannisqatsi, and its ominous interplay of shadows and light rivals the best horror films. But the visions Burton beholds are as beautiful as they are horrible. And the journey he takes into what might be both madness and sanity force you to question the very essence of reality. A wonderfully-told story, brilliantly performed, captured by a cinematic genius.

The acting, cinematography and storyline are all 1st rate. The Aborigines pull Richard Chamberlain into their dark nonlinear primal world where dreams are still taken seriously. The very best (and perhaps most chilling) scene is when Chris, a young Aborigine, tells Chamberlain what dreams really are while they sit around the dining room table. I was riveted (sp) to my seat during the entire movie and will recommend this film to offbeat friends.