Mar. 09, 2004 - 9:28 am
here's another aussie film to throw onto the quickly growing stack. this one was actually pretty damn good. it's sort of the film that made Peter Weir a known name, and gave Australia the spotlight for a little while in the 70s. i've actually seen almost half of his films at this point. weird. he also directed Witness (1985), Gallipoli (1981), Dead Poets Society (1989), and The Truman Show (1998), to name a few.
Picnic at Hanging Rock is apparently one of those movies that everyone thinks is based on a true story, but really it isn't. (they do actually have a note at the end that says the characters are fictitious.) it's sort of a Fargo (1996) type setup at the beginning though. there's a black screen with some setup information telling you that such and such happened in the year 1900...which obviously confuses many people and makes them think that the story is actually reality.
what happens in the film is that a school for young ladies (in the state of Victoria in southeastern Australia) takes a field trip to a natural geologic wonder called Hanging Rock for a Valentine's Day picnic. While they're there, 4 of the girls and one of the teachers go walking up to the rock (it's more like a small mountain with all of these little passages inside where you can get lost). only one of the girls comes back. the movie is about the mystery itself, and how it affects the people involved.
talk about the mood of the film being established by the soundtrack. i'd say about 80% of the eeriness of this film is established by the creepy soundtrack filled with pan flutes and horror film style pipe organs. a lot of times the only thing in the shot at the beginning of the film is some girls in white dresses walking on the rock on a sunny day and there's this spooky feeling that you've got going on. yeah, that's all the soundtrack's doing. so that was pretty neat that they could convey that with just music.
i would also like to compare this movie in a small way to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). in some ways the films are very similar. you get the weird feeling that some unknown and uncontrollable sort of alien forces have the power to destroy the lives of humans and the general ambiance of the film is very similar as well.
i liked the movie very much, and i guess i did enjoy the way that it asked a lot of questions and never actually answered them. a lot of people hate that. oh well.