The film is based on the 1967 novel by Joan Leslie. Although the novel is fictional, the novel implies that the event itself may be real. This film with many features of drama, mystery, horror, nightmare and dream is not to explore what happened, but what might happen.
What happened on that Saturday in 1900? Did those girls enter another time and space? Were they raped by two teenage boys who were also wandering near Diaoshipo that day? Or did they just fall into a crack in the rock? And what happened to the girl who was found a week later? Her shoes are missing, but her feet are not scratched by the sharp stone path. Is she walking in mid-air? There is even a book titled "The Murder of Hanging Shipo" appeared in the movie, which seems to imply that the disappearance is fictitious, but there are other speculations, including the abduction of aliens. The film gave some clues, such as the teacher’s skirt falling off when he ran up the mountain, the rescued girl Elma’s corset was missing, and all the watches stopped at 12 o’clock, but these seemingly critical clues answered the question. It has no effect, but leaves the audience with an open end.
The most successful part of the film is that it has no established explanation. The girls entered the wilderness and disappeared. Nature has coated this missing event with mystery. The aborigines of Australia have their own theories, they will think that these rocks are alive, they swallowed foreign invaders and remained silent. The camera showed the vitality details of these huge and steep rocks: wandering snakes, crawling lizards, flying birds, blooming flowers. These meaningful images may hint at the faces hidden behind the rocks, which put outsiders at The place to be watched. The disappearance of the girls is the awakening of the undamaged European civilization that has been preserved to this day? Or is it the revival of sexual consciousness that consciously evaporates at the turn of the century? Perhaps what Peter Will wants to express is the mystery of life, that is, not everything can be explained by reason. The film’s atmosphere is unforgettable. “It’s very difficult for us to work,” Peter Weir told a reporter from the “Sound & Hearing” magazine in an interview. “We strive to create an illusory, hypnotic Rhythm, in this rhythm you will not know the truth of things, you will not dig for meaning, but sink into this closed atmosphere. I have tried my best to prevent the audience from seeking possible answers to questions " The cultural value of the depressive British Victorian era is in sharp contrast with the distracting but unfettered natural environment: the male-like rough rocks on the cliffs prod the repressed women's sexual consciousness.
The film can be compared with Antonioni's "Adventures" (1960), and it is also about the disappearance of a man's wife in the Mediterranean; "Zoom" (1967) presents a mystery that has never been solved; and David Lean filmed In 1984, "A Trip to India", adapted from Foster's novel, revealed that a woman's repressed sexual hysteria broke out after being inspired by external forces and became the force that promoted the second half of the film. Perhaps a reasonable explanation is: modern people can no longer understand the sexual concept of the Victorian era , so they can't fully understand the disturbing mysterious events that took place on the ancient land.
This film has made two contributions to contemporary Aodɑliyɑ diɑnying: one is its beautiful photography; the other is it bridges the difference between European tradition and the inherent mysterious culture of Australia as the New World. The strong aesthetic style, the exquisite and accurate composition, the elegant use of light, and the meticulously crafted slow motion made this film win the British Film Academy's Best Photography Award. This film made Peter Weir internationally and made great contributions to the revival of Aodɑliyɑ diɑnying in the 1970s . His films showed Australia's peculiar scenery and cultural interest, and showed the disturbance of the rational world by the irrational forces in the secular life, and became the representative of the new Australian directors of that period.
