alr

The Last Wave

Screening on Film
Directed by Peter Weir.
With Richard Chamberlain, Olivia Hamnett, David Gulpilil.
Australia, 1977, 35mm, color, 106 min.
Print source: HFA

O is for Oracles

A corporate lawyer defending a group of Aborigine men accused of murder embarks on a search for the answer to a cryptic prophecy. Meanwhile, the rains that are pouring in Sydney are attributed to an Antarctic cold front but eventually lead to an apocalyptic resolution. In a curious response to the disaster-film genre of the 1970s, director Weir uses a minimum of special effects, choosing instead to present a world caught between reality and fantasy. Echoing the lawyer’s uncertainty in his pursuit, Weir’s focus on the inexplicable reflects what is perhaps an unbridgeable gap between modern society and ancestral myths.

Part of film series

Read more

Cinema A–Z: Treasures from the Harvard Film Archive

Current and upcoming film series

Read more

Fragments of a Faith Forgotten: The Art of Harry Smith

Read more

The Yugoslav Junction: Film and Internationalism in the SFRY, 1957 – 1988

Read more

From the Jenni Olson Queer Film Collection

Read more
a double-exposed image that includes a 16th century Russian man being fed grapes by another amid decadent decor

Wings of a Serf

Read more
a close-up of a Bissau-Guinean woman wearing a scarf on her head and looking directly at the camera with a slight smile

Le Dépays + Sans soleil

Read more
Peter Sellers wearing a large hat with "ME" embroidered on it, and gripping a Pilgrim-like collar

Carol for Another Christmas

Read more

Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy