Last year (2007), we watched the 1977 Peter Weir movie, "The Last Wave", with Richard Chamberlain. It explores the aboriginal belief in "The Dreaming", which figures in "Fiddler's Green" (a 1960 SF story by Richard McKenna which has haunted the TTM webmaster). A good, and dark movie.

John Graves was executive producer of Weir's acclaimed previous movie, "Picnic at Hanging Rock", which communicated a similar feeling of unease in an Australian aboriginal setting. Around the time of that production, he became friends with actor David Gulpilil, who made a strong impression in "The Last Wave". Graves talked about the unique actor on his web site, TheGraveSite.com, and in his memoir, "Just Say Yes", available at his site.

From: http://tulsatvmemories.com/fiddlersgreen.html#05132008

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Product Description

Richard Chamberlain stars as Australian lawyer David Burton, who takes on the defense of a group of aborigines accused of killing one of their own. He suspects the victim has been killed for violating a tribal taboo, but the defendants deny any tribal association. Burton, plagued by apocalyptic visions of water, slowly realizes his own involvement with the aborigines...and their prophecies.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17175 in DVD
• Brand: Image Entertainment
• Released on: 2001-11-27
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 106 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
Nominally a supernatural thriller, Peter Weir's third feature resonates with the director's underlying fascination with the collision between the modern, rational world and the primordial mysteries of older belief systems. In The Last Wave, the keys to an enigmatic murder, as well as baffling disturbances in the weather, are gradually revealed to an Australian lawyer (Richard Chamberlain) within the shadowy, nomadic culture of aborigines living in and around Sydney who until now were presumed to be assimilated into its modern--and white--social fabric. In the process, Weir brings us toward an apocalyptic climax that is foreshadowed with a haunting series of events that cohere around water imagery, from an improbable drowning on dry land to downpours from cloudless skies, sudden hailstorms on the sere Australian land, and ghostly invasions of frogs.

The film's power (as well as what skeptics might regard as its pretension) emanates from Weir's stately, deliberate pace. Violating most of the conventions of suspense, he unravels his mystery with an unsettling calm underscored by its sparse soundtrack, which replaces conventional orchestral cues with the low, brooding rattle and hum of the didgeridoo. Instead of sudden camera movements or quick cuts, Weir circles his subjects almost diffidently. The stillness of that approach only amplifies the mounting unease Chamberlain's character, David Burton, feels as he steps for the first time beyond the bland safety of his privileged life and into the mystical world of the native Australians. Taking on the defense of the aborigines suspected of murdering the drowned man through tribal magic, his own beliefs are tested by the suspects' evident, intuitive connections to nature.

Chamberlain's Anglicized performance seems fussy and epicene, which only heightens the quiet intensity and watchful grace conveyed by the two aborigines, Chris Lee (David Gulpilil) and the shaman, Charlie (Nandjiwarra Amagula), who give Burton his first glimpse of their culture's "dreamtime" and the potent symbolism it contains. --Sam Sutherland

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Customer Reviews

"A dream is a shadow...of something real"
"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...

"Are You A Fish? Are You A Man? Are you Melkur?" ~ Beware Taxicab Drivers With Boney Sticks
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.

Eerie, evocative, and haunting
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.