Drtimk

Enjoyed this movie very much. Superb acting by Russell Crowe who creates and then IS Richie Roberts in all his complexity. Not the same for Denzel who swings between suave and Psycho and lacks the nuances that would have made this character more interesting. The story is one of historical character development.

The ultimate fall of Lucas hinges on one minor plot development. Hence, the movie as a whole is not the ripping yarn of The Godfather or The Departed. Still very enjoyable.But why all the noms for Denzel? Politics have gone crazy in H-Wood!

Ridley Scott has done well but at 152min, Ifeel the whole thing is a little long. Support cast are generally excellent. It's good. Just a 7 though and definitely not an 8.3 in my book!

Jindabyne is a frankly boring tale about the murder of a young aboriginal woman and the subsequent discovery of her body by a group of fairly normal, nice white men on a fishing trip. Their subsequent decision to continue fishing for a further day and a half before returning to alert the authorities continues this tale as they deal with the repercussions of their families,community and the Aboriginal community involved. Now let me preempt this with some thoughts. I do not deny in any way the deliberate and ill-conceived atrocities that have befallen our indigenous people in the last 220 years or so. Nor do I deny that they continue to suffer from racism,misunderstanding and severe,entrenched disadvantage in many areas of our society,especially in health,education and opportunity.

But to paint the picture in this movie of four seemingly normal white men, though with normal family and world weary problems;then their subsequent naturally shocked reaction at finding a dead body,only to make the most appalling decision imaginable simply defies belief.

Surely the most obvious thing to do would be to pull the body from the water;cover it with dignity; whilst two men hightailed it back for help as two watched. This,I can assure you would have been the reaction of 99.9% of Australians(White or Black). The rest of the film defies credibility as they would have been dealt with harshly under our laws.Yes, I can see the film was trying to make points about Black-White relations,misunderstood women;misunderstood men and far too many other things as well. In the end it is just a mish-mash of pretentious,racist(and I mean RACIST)nonsense.

This film is an appalling piece of cinema that discredits all those associated with it; but also Australians in general; and especially Indigenous Australians as yet another piece of apologetic rubbish.