the last wave be far more than the sum of it part . it not merely a disaster film and not simply an exploration into australian aboriginal spirituality and and certainly more than a simple court drama . writer or director peter weir manages to take these element to the next level to produce a truly effective and think provoke film with the same eerie atmosphere he give to picnic at hang rock two year earlier and that you will continue to remember year later . when lawyer david burton ( chamberlain ) be call to defend chris lee ( gulpilil ) over the death of an aboriginal for which he may or may not be directly responsible and he find himself not merely struggle to get the truth from lee and but make sense of what he hear when it do come . a with the aboriginal belief that there be two world the everyday and the dreamtime and the truth exist on two completely different level and with ramification more disastrous than burton could ever have imagine . no doubt the reason why picnic at hang rock be well remember be because of it endure mystery . we be lead along the same path but force to find answer for ourselves . in the last wave and we can piece everything together by the end of the film . however and even with all the information and we have to choose how much of it we want to believe and because the film take u beyond the border of our normal reality . on the production side and weir use his budget to great effect and progressively build a sense of doom in everything from soft lighting and to heavy rain and to good use of sound . the incidental music be unobtrusive and never try to be grandiose . richard chamberlain manages to convey the bafflement the audience would doubtless feel a he try to unravel the mystery . david gulpilil excellently portray a man trap between two world and want to do the right thing and but afraid because he already know the end . put all these thing together and and you have a perfect example of why david weir be a familiar name in cinema thirty year on . strongly recommend .