Jindabyne

Jindabyne tries to grey the areas of good and bad. An Australian setting is a beautiful backdrop for this remarkable story.

Four men, Stewart (Gabriel Bryne), Roco (Stelios Yaikmis), Carl (John Howard), and Billy (Simon Stone) set off on their annual, no girls allowed, fishing trip. Much to their chagrin, on Friday a murdered dead girl floats up in their section of river. Not to let a tiny thing like a murdered woman spoil their trip, they tie her to a tree, floating in the river and continue their weekend fun. On Saturday night, Billy aka "the kid" tells the older men in the group he's leaving to get help for the girl, even if they don't come. So on Sunday all the men finally pack up and head back to their car to call for help. The media and their wives learn of the terrible choice they make to leave the dead girl while they fish and their relationships with the town, their spouses, each other and themselves is monumentally altered.

While the men are away on their annual fishing trip, the women are home to sort some emotional and family things out. Claire (Laura Linney), Jude (Deborra-lee Furness), Carmel (Leah Purcell) have dinner and talk about the past. Claire, wife of Stewart, learns she is pregnant, which is very bad news.

When you first meet Stewart and his wife Claire Laura Linney, she comes across as a loving yet a little unstable wife and Stewart a distant yet stable husband. As the movie progresses it is obvious that Stewart is the unstable one and even though she has a history, Claire's behavior is rational.

Jindabyne is a beautifully written story about the monsters that reside in the hearts of seemingly average men and women. The inaction of these perfectly average men feels like a passive endorsement of the murder of this innocent woman. It leaves the audience to wonder what they or their fathers, brothers and husbands would do if faced with the same situation. The story is even more troubling because they weren't faced with a true moral dilemma. There was only one right thing to do and they didn't do it. Does this one bad decision make these men bad men or is it just plain stupid and heartless this one time?

The men aren't the only ones whose morality is ambiguous. The women in their lives responses range from outrageous to understandable. The one woman of the group of spouses who attempts to apologize for her husband and her friends is outcast by the rest of the group. One woman defends her husband ferociously, even against the other women. The morally correct response is less clear for the women. It left me to wonder if I would stay with my husband after they did something so disgusting or if I would be bothered by it at all. When the women don't punish their husbands, are they also lending passive endorsement to the murder?

The settings in the movie are beautiful and very special. The town where the men live is very small and full of character. The river where the woman is found is majestic. The calming settings make the behaviors of the men even more unsettling. Amidst the calm and beauty are these minor demons and an innocent victim.

Jindabyne is a true movie gem.