This is in response to the OP's question: "Ok, I was trying to be funny in my post and obviously you didn't like it. But since you liked this movie so much, can you please tell me what the heck it was all about?"
My answer is taken from my own review of the film:
While "Jindabyne" isn't the most captivating piece of celluloid and leaves some aspects unresolved, it did pretty much hold my attention and the story provokes numerous insights and questions. For instance, the killer is revealed in the opening shot. This isn't someone frothing at the mouth with evil, but rather an ordinary-looking electrician. One important scene late in the film shows him swatting a bee and we get the impression that he's willing to kill a human being with the exact same indifference. Why's this important? There are ordinary-looking people out there who have no qualms about snuffing out a person's life for their own selfish purposes if they think they can get away with it, just as there are people who would steal, molest or falsely testify without a second thought (take note of the scene where a boy almost gets molested at a secluded beach). We shouldn't assume everyone's like us. There are evil people who prey on others; we should be conscious of this and warn our youth. If the aboriginal girl had truly realized this she wouldn't have allowed herself to fall into the killer's grasp.
[Minor SPOILERS follow as I attempt to intrepret the film]
As I understand it, the four men found the body sometime in the afternoon on Friday and didn't report it immediately because there was no cell phone reception so far back in the sticks. They waited until Sunday to make the call. In the meantime they tied the body to a tree to keep it from being swept away downstream and went about their fishing business. This provokes numerous questions: I realize one of them sprained his ankle but why didn't they send one or two back immediately to report the body? Was it too late? Were they concerned about a killer on the loose in the area? How were they able to block out the presence of the dead body to enjoy their fishing trip? If it was a white teenager would they have reacted in the same callous manner?
The story gives evidence that they were fishoholics excited about their adventure and simply weren't prepared to handle the burden and responsibility of a mysterious dead body. Hence, they temporarily blocked out the corpse and continued their endeavors. Later, in the big fight scene with Claire, Stewart admits, with all the rage that only guilt can cook up, that it did FEEL GOOD to be fishing for awhile, free from the shackles of his every-day mundane existence in "civilization." But how could it? Maybe because many men have the ability to BE IN THE MOMENT, to focus on their main goal and, basically, forget, for a while, the circumstances surrounding them.
This, I think, director Ray Lawrence portrays effectively in the fishing scene. The day is glorious, the landscape is beautiful and the music is pleasant. The scene is a soothing interlude between moments of tension; it's like momentary heaven on earth. So much so, I found myself smiling, along with Stewart and the other guys. And then, I rembered the dead body, and so did they!
Many say the movie is about making a stupid decision and the requisite consequences, as well as repentance, forgivenness and compassion. True, but the movie is also about the differences between the way man and woman view and deal with reality. I doubt most women would be able to ignore the presence of a corpse enough to enjoy a fishing holiday in the wilderness, which explains why Claire becomes so appalled at the guys' actions. No wonder she looks at her husband as if she doesn't even really know him; their marriage was already strained and this understandably rips it apart (to say nothing of the weirdo mother-in-law -- she'll give you the heebie-jeebies!).
Another scene that depicts this difference is when Stewart comes home from the fishing trip in the middle of the night. Feeling guilty and confused, he needs to make love to Claire, to touch her and give her pleasure in order to regain a bit of his humanity. Talking about it is not an option for him, there are simply no words. It's evidently a way for Stewart to "skip" the whole event, to deny his own responsablity, to pretend he's not concerned by it.
Yet, I think the film is about scapegoating more than anything else. A beautiful young girl is dead and it's almost impossible to discern who did it, so the community's collective pain is hurled at the four doofuses who trivialized her in death in order to preserve their paradisical holiday. Also, the film obviously compares the men's cavalier disregard with the heartless indifference of the killer himself. Which isn't to say they're anywhere close to being as bad as the murderer, not at all, but they do share one of the key traits that enables him to do what he does.
As far as implications of the bee sting go, there are many: (1) It represents the girl taking some small revenge now that she was (according to the aborigines) one with nature. (2) It showed nature beginning to assert its dominance over this man who professes a psychological link of some kind with artificial power (electricity), which he also represents, and the way he uses nature to abet his crimes (i.e. hiding in the rocks and disposing of his victims in the stream). (3) It simply shows that his cycle of predation and murder is an eroding one, in that the longer he keeps doing it the more things will happen that are beyond his control, and will eventually lead to his discovery. And (4) It signifies how a murderer can kill a person with no remorse or anything, just like killing an insect.
FINAL SAY: Maybe the film's not worthy of such a long write-up since it's not the most engrossing flick out there, but I wanted to illustrate how provocative "Jindabyne" is. There's a lot to this film and there's much more I'd like to address but this critique is overkill as it is. Suffice to say, this is a film for thinking people and those who prefer arty independant flicks. if you appreciated the mysterious vibe of "Picnic at Hanging Rock" you'll probably like this one. I think it's better.
I hope this answers your question. I can see why some might find the film boring, but to call such a provocative movie a "non-story" isn't accurate.
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