Encounter at Raven's Gate

Arriving to investigate the smouldering wreckage of an outback property, Special Branch agent Hemmings (Camilleri) seems disconcerted to find local police sergeant Taylor (Cullen) already at the scene. Taylor senses that he has stumbled on Something Big, and as the two men piece together the events leading up to the disappearanceof the house's three inhabitants, he begins tosuspect a government cover-up. In flasback, we observe the fraught triangular relationship between paroled car-thief Eddie (Vidler), his responsible older brother Richard (Singer), and Richard's frustrated artist wife Rachel (Griffin). Meanwhile, cars grind to a halt, wells dry up, dead sheep and birds litter the sun-parched earth. De Heer's disconcerting images suggest not only an intangible link between the seething emotions and the unexplained physical events, but also an invisible, all-seeing alien presence. The original screenplay apparently explained the strange occurences; the film itself is more enigmatic and open-ended, using an elliptical narrative and bizarre camera angles to reinforce the prevailing mood of mystery and unease.