Top of the Lake by Jane Campion, Holly Hunter, Peter Mullan, and David Wenham - Movie Review Example

Nam Instructor Course Date Top of the lake Top of the lake film revolves around a young girl called Tui who goes missing after discovering that she is pregnant. This sets the whole film into action where other characters such Robin, who is a police detective, come into play (Campion, Holly, Peter and David). Robin starts investigating about Tui trying to find out what happened to her and whether she had drowned into the lake since she was last seen at the lake. This sets out a series of actions with a number of discoveries and events taking place as the film progresses. The film constructs its narrative around the female gender and how women and girls are mistreated in society. The film shows men as mostly beasts who hurt women. There are numerous cases of rape and unwanted pregnancies such as the one witnessed in Tui’s case. The audience also learns that Robin was also a victim of rape that resulted to a pregnancy. Men are portrayed as powerful and ruthless while women are portrayed as powerless as they are easily manipulated by men (Lacey 26). However, there are cases where women are seen fighting for their rights. One such case is when Robin stabs her rape assailant in the bar with a broken bottle and Tui shooting Matt to protect her from being killed. These are cases where women try to liberate themselves from the slavery imposed to them by men. Although they have been hard-pressed and denied a free and happy life, they show a willingness to fight back and put an end to the men’s domination. The film is set in a small town known as Laketop. The film concentrates around this region, with all its characters coming from within. Despite the bad things happening in the society, life here is going on as normal. However, the disappearance of Tui makes people to realize that not all is right and action needs to be taken. The conflict of the story is the pregnancy and disappearance of Tui. This makes people such as Robin to start investigating about the disappearance of the girl and how she got pregnant (Campion, Holly, Peter and David). Tui’s inability to tell who is responsible for her pregnancy also brings to the attention of the audience and people in this society about the possibility of a deep-rooted societal problem that needs to be addressed. The resolution in the film is arrived at after Tui and her baby are discovered. It is finally found out that Tui is not dead and that she successfully gave birth to a baby. The real culprit is also discovered in the end bringing the whole investigation to an end. Episode four in the film, for instance, revolves around the events happening to a number of characters. For instance, the episode focuses on the rape ordeal that Robin underwent 15 years ago. The scene shows Al, one of the characters in the film, telling Robin how he and other people including Matt arrested the criminals who raped her and punished them. Robin reveals that the rape resulted to pregnancy and that she gave birth to a child. This flashback makes the audience to understand why Robin is so much involved in Tui’s case (Lacey 48). It is because of the experience she went through and feels that she has an obligation to help Tui through her problem and bring the people responsible for her sorry state to justice. Episode four also constantly negotiates between knowledge and ignorance. For instance, Simone does not know what the problem with her son Jamie is and is afraid to inquire. Al does not want to gain knowledge about what happened to Wolfgang Zanic or Bob Platt. More importantly, Robin is not willing to know the truth about her especially what happened to her. For instance, in the first scene, she tells Al “fuck the truth Al” (Campion, Holly, Peter and David). This shows her unwillingness to know anything about her past, especially the bitter part. However, she reluctantly goes through the story of her rape with Al. she also refuses to know the truth from Johnno who wants to tell her about the relationship they share and the possibility that they are siblings. This is because Johnno and Robin were romantically involved and such discovery would mean that they were being incestuous. Such news proves to be unbearable to Robin and she tells Johnno to stop telling her. The film is stylistically emphatic but not comically overcast. There is no striking thrill to the crime that takes place in the film. A prom photo takes the audience to a faded brown dance in the past, which could have been magical then but sickening now. Robin and Johnno are in attendance in this dance. Some guys interrupt the dance and Johnno leaves leaving Robin upset and alone without giving her any explanation (Campion, Holly, Peter and David). Mysteriously, Robin gets flanked by black balloons as she stands alone in the doorway looking into darkness on the outside. The outdoor shot is marked by failed communication, a chain-link dog cage and sudden headlights. This sequence shows pure despair and helpless for Robin. This shows the poor state and helplessness of women in this male-dominated society. The episode also shows how women are manipulated and used by men in this society. One scene shows Robin in a poor state, barely able to stand up after spending the night drinking with Al. Al takes her keys. In the morning, Robin wakes anxious and worried. She is in Al’s bed wearing his shirt, without her pants, Al having taken them off, and Al having left for work. This episode also revolves around gender war which gets obvious with Matt mistreating women. The women are shown to be on the receiving end of men’s brutality (Lacey 53). For instance, Matt mistreats Anita by ramming his car on the gate while Anita was trying to open. This throws Anita to the ground because of the force of the impact. He also abuses the women around telling them about their menstrual waste which was saturating his land. He also told the women that they are unfuckable. This indicates how Matt sees women. He sees them as worthless creatures that do not deserve any respect from him. The women in this film are bound by endurance. They endure a lot of mistreatment from men although they also try to fight back despite their fight being so feeble as compared to the force at which men unleash their brutality upon them. Men are portrayed as very powerful (Lacey 76). For instance, Matt is portrayed as a powerful brute who intimidates the town and particularly women with women seen as powerless against him. However, although other women are seen as having given in to their powerless nature, some of them like Robin try to fight this slavery. For instance, when Al suggests that she should arrest and jail Sarge for raping her, she asks if she can kill him after that. This shows her willingness to take the fight to men and try to liberate women from their power. One scene which shows Robin trying to fight men is the scene at the bar. At the bar, Robin meets Sarge, the man who raped her. He approaches her and starts seducing her. Robin starts chuckling telling him that he does not remember her (Campion, Holly, Peter and David). It is very dark on the outside. After Robin tells him that he does not remember her, Sarge asks her if they have ever fucked or did something of that sort. Immediately he utters those words, Robin lurches forward, breaks a bottle on the table and stabs him. This prompts Johnno to carry her outside the bar. This scene at the bar shows that although women are weak, they are willing to fight for their rights and take some power from men. This indicates a liberation that women in this society, led by Robin, are willing to launch in order to shake off the slavery that has been imposed on them by men. The stabbing is a masculine move, an indication that women can also wrestle power from men. It a violation of the norm in this society where men are shown as powerful, heartless and ruthless while women are seen as powerless and submissive (Lacey 63). The episode also shows Johnno derived of power where he is locked in a cage and forced to watch helplessly as his date is assaulted. The episode also shows that not all men are heartless. For instance, Ian Fellows rescues Robin from the memories of a horrific night by visiting Robin at her home. He also recommends a number of cases for Robin that Al has refused to pursue. One of the cases involves a girl called April Stephens. Ian wants to help unravel these cases because he was also a victim of criminal actions through his daughter who was killed from a drug overdose. The film establishes its genre identity by restricting its theme to gender differences and wars that take place in society. The film revolves men versus women and how these two groups are in a constant fight trying to outdo each other at every stage. The film also uses a number of visual techniques to tell its story. Among the visual storytelling techniques used in this film is lighting effects, distance shots, angled shorts, extreme close-up shots and cut. Lighting effects were used to show light or darkness (Caputo 43). They were also used to show a state of hope or despair. For instance, darkness was used to show a state of despair for Robin when Johnno left her without an explanation. Extreme close-up shots were used to focus on a character so that the emotions the character might be going through could be known. Distance shots were used to show a large environment or multiple events happening at the same time in the same environment. Cut, on the other hand, was used to connect two events, to switch from one event to another or to show two events happening at the same time in different locations. Generally, top of the lake is a gender based film that portrays the plight of women in a male dominated society. The film depicts men as powerful, heartless and ruthless while women are portrayed as powerless and gullible. However, there are cases where women try to fight for their rights and wrestle power from men. Works Cited Campion, Jane, Holly Hunter, Peter Mullan, and David Wenham. Top of the Lake. , 2013. Caputo, Tony C. Visual Storytelling: The Art and Technique. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2004. Print. Lacey, Nick. Narrative and Genre: Key Concepts in Media Studies. New York: Palgrave, 2000. Print. Read More