Feb 06, 2005 01:20 PM
2326 Views
(Updated Feb 06, 2005 01:22 PM)
Everything begins and ends at exactly the right time and place.
These are the words which were oft repeated by Miranda in the movie called ‘Picnic at the Hanging Rock.’These are words that I often think about whenever I need an answer for any question in life and somehow it explains everything and comforts my anxious mind.
Watching this movie – you will feel as though you are on a different plane altogether. It talks about forces – powers that live around us. Forces that are generated by negative and positive emotional energies.Just go to an isolated place and quietly look at the trees, listen to their language and feel the aura around you. Every place has its own space, own aura , own story to tell. You will get the distinct feeling that something exists in the trees, in the rocks and the hills – that knows. It knows the past, present and future and waits for you. Like it has waited for you since many years.
What is that something ? Is it God ? Is it destiny ? Or is it some supernatural force that has to act, at a specific time and place and create or destroy a specific event – irrespective of human endeavors or willpower.
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Story
The screenplay of this movie is based on a true incident which occurred on the Valentine’s Day in 1900 when a group of Australian schoolgirlsescorted by school mistresses go for a picnic at the Hanging Rock. Among the girls, is the amazingly beautiful and popular Miranda (Anne Lambert),who is compared to a Bottecilli angel and a swan by her peers. As the day passes, four girls including Miranda go off towards the rocks on their own. Then they disappear and are never heard from again. The rest of the movie is about the futile attempts to trace them. Though one of the girls gets found, she has no clue or memory of what had happened up on the rocks. Where are the girls ? What became of them ? Did the rocks take them in ? Or did they simply vanish in thin air ? Why did they disappear ?
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Direction and music
The direction by Peter Weir is so good that this movie is considered a classic by many critics. The two other notable contributors to this movie are the cinematographer, Russell Boydand the background music by Gheorghe Zamfir (pan flute). The brilliant way the camera moves over the hanging rocks will have your heart beating in a strange, uneasy manner. There is no need for dialogues or explanations – the rocks will speak to you through the screen. You will sit there, mesmerized and intrigued by the tale that unfolds in front of you, scarcely able to take your eyes away.
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Performances
‘Subtle’ is the word. There is nothing over-the-top about the actors – they are simply required to merge in with the characters and they do so, gracefully. Of course, the best performer is Anne Lambert who is supposed to the lovely Miranda who ‘kind of’ knew that she may not ‘be here for long’. She was the embodiment of prophetic wisdom and quiet resignation to the fate that awaits.
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Watching The Picnic at the Hanging rock is a beautiful experience. Of course, you will have to forget about logic and reason to fully appreciate this movie, simply because everything in life cannot be driven by logic alone – there are other forces which are bigger than human understanding and rationale.
Watching this movie may make you feel uneasy and may even frighten you. Many classify this movie in the genre of ‘horror movies’. Yet, I feel that it’s not as simple as just that. Of course, it’s chilling at moments and you may find your heart stopping for brief instants and then racing forward. However, it addresses something bigger and more powerful than human fear.
It questions our existence, our destinies and appears to give no palpable answers. Yet, it does not leave you groping in dark – In the end you are left with the feeling that no matter what happens and even if it may look all wrong, somewhere it had to happen and it is just right. Because like Miranda says -
Everything begins and ends at exactly the right time and place.
Yes, everything has a life span – life, happiness, grief, feelings, success and failure. This is the ultimate law of nature and the universe we live in. You may find this metaphoric and abstract – but isn’t this the ultimate truth ?
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