Picnic at Hanging Rock

Picnic at Hanging Rock is the first real film by Peter Weir, a director who has made many successful films such as: The Truman Show, Master and Commander, and this year's: The Way Back. Picnic at Hanging Rock is not only a very Australian kind of film, but one that seeps with creativity. For, it knows what kind of movie it is and exactly what it wants to convey. It is at times sexual and scary, and at others, outstandingly frustrating. It tells of a mystery, where, in 1900 Australia, a group of girls from a private school go out on Valentine's Day to Hanging Rock (the geological phenomenon nearby the school). At some point during the outing three of the students disappear without a trace, along with their teacher. A week later, a love interest of one of the missing girls returns to Hanging Rock to search. He finds nothing and decides to stay the night, telling his counterpart that he'll be alright. When the friend returns the next day, he discovers the boy bloody and exhausted due to exposure. He finds in his hand lace, and upon searching the crevices of the rock, discovers one of the missing girls. She remembers nothing. As the director takes us through this mystery, suggesting possible rape and murder of the missing with witnesses claiming they saw the teacher in her underwear, and with ominous and creepy music and hidden sexual devices throughout, Picnic at Hanging Rock becomes a mystery film where the mystery will not and should not be solved. We get so much effect from the disappearances, not only on ourselves and our desire to know the truth, but with the characters in the film: who practically go mad with worry and wonder. The film has undertones of impenetrable mystery, and this acts as an allegory for Australia: a place that had been taken from the native people and attempted to be lived in by Europeans. I do not think that Picnic at Hanging Rock is a great film. It can be too slow and it's ideas too impenetrable. But it does exactly what it wants to do, and well. It's cinematography is beautiful, the acting perfect, and most importantly: it brings an audience in with its creepiness.
Picnic at Hanging Rock: ✰✰✰