richard chamberlain be david burton and a tax lawyer living in sydney and australia who be draw into a murder trial defend five aboriginal men accuse of murder a fellow native in peter weir apocalyptic 1977 thriller the last wave . take up where picnic at hang rock leave off and the film go deep into explore the unknown and and in the process and show the gulf between two culture who live side by side but lack understanding of each others culture and tradition . weir show how white society considers the native belief to be primitive superstition and believe that since they be live in the city and have be domesticate and their tribal law and culture no longer apply . from the start and burton be draw deep and deep into a strange web of vision and symbol where the line between real time and dream time evaporate . water play an important symbolic role in the film from the opening sequence in which a sudden thunder and hailstorm interrupt a peaceful school recess to burton discovery that his bathtub be overflow and water be pour down his step . a violent and unusual weather continue with episode of black rain and mud fall from the sky and the contrast between the facile scientific explanation of the phenomenon and the intuitive understanding of the native be make clear . burton and his wife annie ( olivia hamnet ) study book about the aborigine and learn about the role of dream in the tribal tradition . when he invite one of his client chris lee ( david gulpilil ) to his home for dinner and he be disturb to find that he be the subject of an inquiry by chris and his friend charlie ( nadjiwarra amagula ) and an enigmatic aborigine sorcerer involve with the defendant . a burton investigation continue and his client make his work difficult by refuse to disclose the true event surround the murder . after chris start to appear in his dream and burton be convince that the aborigine be kill in a tribal ritual because he saw too much and though chris refuse to acknowledge this in court . burton and become more and more troubled by a mystery he can not unravel and say to his stepfather priest and why do not you tell me there be mystery . this be a legitimate question but and accord to the reverend and the church answer all mystery . burton know now that he must discover the truth for himself and enter the tribal underground cave . though we do not know for certain what be real and what be a dream and he come face to face with his deep fear in a haunting climax that will leave you ponder it meaning into the wee hour of the morning . in this period of history in which native hopi and mayan prophecy predict the end of history and the purification of man lead to the fifth world and the last wave and though 25 year old and be still timely . the aborigine be portray a a vibrant culture and not one completely subjugate by the white man and yet i be trouble by the gnawing feeling that we be look in but not quite see . weir have open our eye to the mystery that lie beyond our consensual view of reality and but he perpetuate the doom orientation that see possibility only in term of fear and show nature a a dark and uncontrollable power without a hint of the spiritual beauty that live on both side of time .