Mini Review - "Jindabyne"

So I noticed I had not given “Jindabyne” a review.
In fact the displacement of time between watching it and writing it up is fitting.

You see “Jindabyne” is about displacement.
The town itself was displaced due to rising waters, and it was moved higher up. This is not where the displacement ends. The two lead characters are husband and wife. The wife, Clare (Laura Linney wowing again), is from America, and the husband, Stewart (a wonderful Gabriel Byrne), is Irish.

Why do they live in this small town? Well that is never answered, neither are many questions, the secrets of one family should never be tied up neatly in a two-hour running time.

The basic story is while Stewart is on a fishing trip in isolated hill country with three other men he discovers the body of a murdered Aboriginal girl in the river.
Rather than return to the town immediately, they tie her to a branch with fishing wire and continue fishing and report their gruesome find days later.
Stewart's wife Claire is the last to find out.
Deeply disturbed by her husband's action, her faith in her relationship with Stewart is shaken to the core. She wants to understand and tries to make things right. In her determination to help the victim's family Claire sets herself not only against her own family and friends but also those of the dead girl.

The story enough is fascinating, as it is never about the killer. The film is not treated as a who-dunnit. Instead the audience is more horrified by the actions of these four men. Because there is no suspect, the blame is displaced and focused on these men. They are as guilty as had they murdered her themselves.

Is it ever explained why they did what they did? No, perhaps they were in a state of shock, or perhaps there was good fish to be had, or perhaps the death of an Aboriginal girl does not mean that much to four white men.

I will not go into the plot to much as this really is a film you need to discover for yourself. The acting is superb and the script is sharp.

The most fascinating thing about the film was the way in which it was shot. One minute the viewer is with these men seeing there trip from their perspective, and the next we are seeing them from behind the trees, as though we are watching them from afar.
Ray Lawrence has not only created a film that is about physical, emotional and spiritual displacement, he has also made one that takes this theme and let the audience feel it. In watching this film I felt unsettled, like there was a shift in the room.

I was sympathetic to Stewart, then Claire, then the family of the girl.
It was only until the end of the film that I was reminded who the real villain was and the fact that I forgot that stuck with me for a long time.
B +