Backbencher

Picnic at Hanging Rock is a movie about three Appleyard College girls and their headmistress who mysteriously go missing at Hanging Rock in Victoria on Valentine's Day 1900. While on a scheduled outing the three girls venture off to study Hanging Rock closer. When they don't return their headmistress goes off to find them, only to go missing herself. What follows is a series of event of the people searching for the girls and the subtle change in demeanor and attitude of the other girls at the college.

Picnic at Hanging Rock is an adaptation of a book who many believe is based on a true story. The movie is entirely fiction and leaves you wondering what really happened to the girls. Some people believe that the girls were crushed under a falling rock, while some prefer a more supernatural explanation. Whatever happened and however it happened, Picnic at Hanging Rock is one of the more pivotal movies that put Australia filmmaking on the map.

At the time the movie was readapted (1975) Australia was going through a prime minister crisis and had just dismissed the "white" Australia policy. Picnic at Hanging Rock really pulls out the conflict crisis of Australia's history and shows the reaction to change. The headmistress at the school struggles with her role and the loss of her staff and prized students. The girls who come back to school are also changed, trying to breakout of their shells and the conventional ways of life.

While the movie may be a little too supernatural or mysterious at times, it does follow the main themes of conflict in Australia's history and is an overall enjoyable feature. The Australian director Peter Weir went on to direct Dead Poets Society, the Truman Show and Master and Commander. It could be an interesting study to see if any Australian themes come through in those movies even though they are not set in Australia.