Film

Heatwave (1981)

Director: Phillip Noyce

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Goon squads roughly evict demonstrating squatters: people in the way of 'progress', their homes on the site of a speculative prestige building project. No more than a scenario for worthy sentiments, it seems, until the focus rapidly narrows to the curious common-ground confrontation between an ambitious architect (Moir) and an impulsive local activist (Davis); and amid the heatwave that is Sydney's Christmas climate, the plot unexpectedly sours, thickens, and solidifies into a complex conspiracy thriller. A campaigning community journalist disapp- ears, companies change hands, unions change sides, arson takes care of stubborn residents. Noyce puts the suspense screws on in time, and tight, and the odd allies' spiralling progress towards a nightmarish New Year's Eve shootout stylishly scars the unacceptable face of Lego-brick capitalism, with a memorably disturbing final image confirming this film as a genuine urban horror movie.

---

• 
•