Check Out The Last Wave By Petru Popescu Distributed In Visual Format

to be clear, the movie by Peter Weir was not based on this book, In fact, the opposite relationship seems to be true, The book is written by Petru Popescu one of the screenwriters for the movie, based on “an idea” by Peter Weir.
Regardless I thought that reading the book might help to deepen my understanding and appreciation for the movie, And it did.

The Last Wave has always been a favorite movie for me lets get that out of the way.
It combines a personal story and a story of aboriginal culture with an overriding apocalyptic vision, The same is true of the book, although the personal story and the aboriginal, tribal story are the ones that I think are intensified in print.


Both are strengthened by a theme that leaps out of the book the contrast between how Chris Lee and the other defendants, and Charlie, the old leader in the tribe, view their law, and how the government court and its lawyers view the governments law.


As context, remember, if you have seen the movie, that Chris Lee and four other aboriginal defendants are accused of the murder of another man, Billy Corman, in curious circumstances.
Billy appears to have died while being pursued by the five defendants, but there is no clear cause of death, nor any clear relationship between his death and anything the five actually did.


While preparing their case, David Burgess David Burton, played by Richard Chamberlain in the movie clashes with the experienced barrister, Michael Zeadler, over defense strategy.
Zeadlers strategy is to

have the defendants plead guilty to a charge lighter than murder, so that they will serve relatively short sentences and get on with their lives.


Burgess asks Zeadler if it would make any difference if, in fact, the defendants didnt kill Billy.
Zeadlers response speaks volumes for his, and others, attitude toward the law “Of course not, What dictates a change in defence is such factors as our assessment of the jury or of public opinion, which may be biased in a particular way at a particular time.
Anything that might have a bearing on the verdict, ” Guilt or innocence dont seem to have a bearing on the verdict,

The defendants in the meantime give little thought to the governments law, They are faithful to a much older tribal law that they take much more seriously, As Burgess says, "Dont you realize that these people are more faithful to their law than a white person is And why Because they believe in their values, the same after thousands of years, while we lose faith in ours in less than a decade.
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Chris in particular is torn between helping David, with whom he shares spiritually laden dreams, and being true to the tribal law.
He doesnt really care at all what happens to him in the court of government law how could he, when there is a pending event of true significance and when the government law itself seems to be played out with indifference to truth.


As for the apocalypse itself, I think we are left still wondering, Was it a only a dream or a vision, or was it real What is the difference I think that part of the point of the story is to show that the distinction may not be as sharp as we think.
The scenes depicting the interplay between dreams and reality are riveting I got this continuity between dreamtime and reality much more clearly in the book than in the movie now I know I will see the movie differently as well.


I have no idea whether the depictions of native Australian spirituality, or of dreamtime, are accurate, But the story is compelling, It puts some of our smallness in its place, Chris Lee tells David, “ you have lost your dreams, ” Its not just ordinary dreams that he is talking about its our connection to something more significant than the comforts and concerns of day to day life.
I loved this movie. The book adds a LOT more to it,
David Burgess is hired to defend a group of aboriginals accused of murder,
Strange weather, weird dreams, . David is way in over his head, For information, please see sitelink For information, please see sitelink sitelink,