The Movie Jindabyne, directed by Ray Lawrence is to say the least an intriguing text, based on Stewart Kane, an irishmen living in the Australian town in NSW of Jindabyne, who goes on a fishing trip in an isolated hill country with three other men when they discover the body of a dead young indigenous girl. The central theme throughout this movie is that of Crime and Punishment, shown such ways as; the old man killing the indigenous girl, Stew’s wife’s pregnancy that she hasn’t told Stew about, and when the four men find the body and don’t report it to police straight away.
Body:
To my first thesis point, on how Ray Lawernce uses the portayal of the old man murdering the young aboriginal girl as crime and punishment. This old man commits the most heinous of crimes in murder (and possibly rape it isn’t directly shown but implied due to the body being naked), yet throughout the text he socializes with everyone in the town and works in the chruch and even attends the girl who he murdered’s funeral! This is a prime example of how crime and punishment doesn’t affect this man as he gets away with this act, which leaves the viewer very distraught wondering if something this terrifying could happen in real life.
To my next point, how Stew’s wife Claire has a pregnancy that she hasn’t told Stew about. Now while this isn’t technically a crime, she sees it as such and hides ot from Stew to avoid his reaction, why she hides it from him is because last time they had a child, Claire couldn’t cope with the pressure and ran away for 18 months! The crime of Claire not telling Stew has delt severe punishment as she is sick and won’t tell anyone why, she becomes angry and takes it out on a clueless Stew which then sparks family problems, it forces the audience to relate it back to their own lives and reminds them everyone is human, no-one is perfect.
To my final thesis point, how Stew and his three buddies find the dead girl but don’t report it to the local police, this is perhaps the biggest and clearest showing of crime and punishment in the whole movie. It has major repercussions for all the men involved and is a terrible and stupid act, a serious crime of not reporting a dead body to officials and the punishment that follows affects all the men in a variety of different ways; from their cars and shows being broken into and vandalised. But also the mental punishment as all men are tortured by their own thoughts and regret what they have done.
This softer side allows the viewer to see that we all make mistakes and makes them sympathise with the characters. Conclusion: To sum up my essay, crime and punishment has a major role in the subtle undertones of this movie and can be easily depicted and de-constructed, from the old man killing the indigenous girl, Stew’s wife’s pregnancy that she hasn’t told Stew about, and when the four men find the body and don’t report it to police straight away. All these points just reinforce how much crime and punishment is shown throughout the movie, it holds the movie together and leaves the audience wanting more.
