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The Last Wave

160 statements
30 feature instances
4 referencing feature instances

The Last Wave	type	TVTItem
The Last Wave	label	The Last Wave
The Last Wave	page	TheLastWave
The Last Wave	comment	Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_1'); })The Last Wave (released in the U.S. as Black Rain) is a 1977 Australian mystery/thriller film by Peter Weir.The movie starts with the weather in Australia taking a sudden, unexplicable turn for the worse: the cities and villages are literally drowning in the rainwater, giant blocks of ice and snow are falling from the sky, the rain suddenly turns black. The weather conditions in the rest of the world are no better. Experts blame everything on the pollution.Meanwhile, in Sydney, a white lawyer named David Burton (Richard Chamberlain) is called upon to help investigate the case of homicide that happened in the Aboriginal community. It seems like a fairly usual case at first. But why is the cause of death so difficult to explain? Why does David keeps seeing one of the suspects in his dreams? What is that strange symbol that keeps appearing along with him? There cannot be magic involved... can there? Before you know, the world around David and his personal life plunge to hell.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_2'); })This film, along with The Cars That Ate Paris and Picnic at Hanging Rock, is part of Weir's Early-Installment Weirdness period. It deals with many themes, such as: the difference between the world and worldview of the white Australians (and, by extension, modern Westerners) and those of Aboriginal Australian people (and, by extension, the traditional, so-called primitive, societies), the reaction of humans to natural cataclysms, mythology, the unknown and the indifference of nature towards her creations.
The Last Wave	fetched	2023-01-18T17:41:53Z
The Last Wave	parsed	2023-01-18T17:41:54Z
The Last Wave	processingComment	Dropped link to Foil: Not a Feature - IGNORE
The Last Wave	processingComment	Dropped link to GenreBusting: Not a Feature - IGNORE
The Last Wave	isPartOf	DBTropes
The Last Wave / int_13a6b7ef	type	Gaia's Lament
The Last Wave / int_13a6b7ef	comment	Gaia's Lament/Gaia's Vengeance: Subverted; the upcoming disaster isn't caused by our neglect towards the nature, that's just the way things go — one era is succeeded by another, which is accompanied by a great flood.
The Last Wave / int_13a6b7ef	featureApplicability	-0.3
The Last Wave / int_13a6b7ef	featureConfidence	1.0
The Last Wave	hasFeature	The Last Wave / int_13a6b7ef
The Last Wave / int_1439161f	type	Heroic BSoD
The Last Wave / int_1439161f	comment	Heroic BSoD: The whole movie is one gigantic BSOD for David, his wife and, less overtly, but no less importantly, for Chris. But what takes the cake is David's despair at the very end of the movie, when he sees the wave looming over the land.
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The Last Wave	hasFeature	The Last Wave / int_1439161f
The Last Wave / int_1fb440a6	type	Voluntary Shapeshifting
The Last Wave / int_1fb440a6	comment	Voluntary Shapeshifting: Charlie can turn into an owl.
The Last Wave / int_1fb440a6	featureApplicability	1.0
The Last Wave / int_1fb440a6	featureConfidence	1.0
The Last Wave	hasFeature	The Last Wave / int_1fb440a6
The Last Wave / int_2bbe31c9	type	Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant
The Last Wave / int_2bbe31c9	comment	Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Why, hello there, Charlie.
The Last Wave / int_2bbe31c9	featureApplicability	1.0
The Last Wave / int_2bbe31c9	featureConfidence	1.0
The Last Wave	hasFeature	The Last Wave / int_2bbe31c9
The Last Wave / int_2da9bb9b	type	Psychopomp
The Last Wave / int_2da9bb9b	comment	Psychopomp: David's stepfather reminds him how he thought that the taxi drivers take you into a different world when you sleep, when he was a child. That idea is actually very close to Australian Aboriginal beliefs about Dreamtime — and since apparently Aboriginal Australian Myths are true, we can assume that's what really happens.
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The Last Wave / int_2da9bb9b	featureConfidence	1.0
The Last Wave	hasFeature	The Last Wave / int_2da9bb9b
The Last Wave / int_34f1b472	type	Mad Artist
The Last Wave / int_34f1b472	comment	Mad Artist: When introducing Charlie to Mrs. Burton, Chris says that he's an artist. Indeed, we see Charlie creating petrographs in the opening credits (probably, the rock paintings David sees in an underground cave were created by Charlie too). That may not equal the modern Western definition of "artist", but the "mad" part remains anyway.
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The Last Wave / int_34f1b472	featureConfidence	1.0
The Last Wave	hasFeature	The Last Wave / int_34f1b472
The Last Wave / int_351e7cf9	type	Romanticism Versus Enlightenment
The Last Wave / int_351e7cf9	comment	Romanticism Versus Enlightenment: If the conflict between cultures in the movie could be classified at all, Aborigines would represent Romanticism, and white Australians reperesent Enlightement.
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The Last Wave / int_351e7cf9	featureConfidence	1.0
The Last Wave	hasFeature	The Last Wave / int_351e7cf9
The Last Wave / int_3545b7df	type	Proper Lady
The Last Wave / int_3545b7df	comment	Proper Lady: David's wife, oh so very much.
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The Last Wave / int_44880a8c	type	Killed to Uphold the Masquerade
The Last Wave / int_44880a8c	comment	Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: Chris is afraid that it will happen to him and David and refuses to give more information about the case because of that.
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The Last Wave / int_44880a8c	featureConfidence	1.0
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The Last Wave / int_449584c	type	Giant Wall of Watery Doom
The Last Wave / int_449584c	comment	Giant Wall of Watery Doom: Yep.
The Last Wave / int_449584c	featureApplicability	1.0
The Last Wave / int_449584c	featureConfidence	1.0
The Last Wave	hasFeature	The Last Wave / int_449584c
The Last Wave / int_4b316d47	type	Break the Cutie
The Last Wave / int_4b316d47	comment	Break the Cutie: The Burtons.
The Last Wave / int_4b316d47	featureApplicability	1.0
The Last Wave / int_4b316d47	featureConfidence	1.0
The Last Wave	hasFeature	The Last Wave / int_4b316d47
The Last Wave / int_54367e5d	type	Mathematician's Answer
The Last Wave / int_54367e5d	comment	Mathematician's Answer: David tells Chris about the cryptic dream he's had and asks what he has seen. Chris' answer: "A dream".
The Last Wave / int_54367e5d	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Last Wave / int_66479d0	type	Our Ghosts Are Different
The Last Wave / int_66479d0	comment	Our Ghosts Are Different: According to Word of God here, Charlie is a ghost of one of the members of a tribe that formerly lived where Sydney is now, who took on human form.
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The Last Wave / int_66dfe36a	type	Missing Mom
The Last Wave / int_66dfe36a	comment	Missing Mom: David's mother died when he was a child. Since he's a Mulkurul, he has foreseen it in his dreams.
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The Last Wave / int_6a1c2a6	type	Cosmic Horror Story
The Last Wave / int_6a1c2a6	comment	Cosmic Horror Story: Not on a cosmic scale, though: the upcoming cataclysm only concerns our planet.
The Last Wave / int_6a1c2a6	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Last Wave / int_70ade2c4	type	Culture Clash
The Last Wave / int_70ade2c4	comment	Culture Clash: One of the prevalent themes in the movie is the difference and misunderstanding between the white Australians and the Aboriginal people.
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The Last Wave / int_70ade2c4	featureConfidence	1.0
The Last Wave	hasFeature	The Last Wave / int_70ade2c4
The Last Wave / int_776a06eb	type	All Myths Are True
The Last Wave / int_776a06eb	comment	All Myths Are True: All Aboriginal Australian Myths, anyway.
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The Last Wave	hasFeature	The Last Wave / int_776a06eb
The Last Wave / int_7d7c8e54	type	Being Watched
The Last Wave / int_7d7c8e54	comment	Being Watched: The protagonist and his family have been watched by Charlie.
The Last Wave / int_7d7c8e54	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Last Wave / int_87e661e8	type	Absurdly Spacious Sewer
The Last Wave / int_87e661e8	comment	Absurdly-Spacious Sewer: In the climax.
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The Last Wave	hasFeature	The Last Wave / int_87e661e8
The Last Wave / int_91672d3e	type	Children Are Innocent
The Last Wave / int_91672d3e	comment	Children Are Innocent
The Last Wave / int_91672d3e	featureApplicability	1.0
The Last Wave / int_91672d3e	featureConfidence	1.0
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The Last Wave / int_91e8cd03	type	Apocalypse Wow
The Last Wave / int_91e8cd03	comment	Apocalypse Wow: The very last seconds of the film.
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The Last Wave	hasFeature	The Last Wave / int_91e8cd03
The Last Wave / int_99298c71	type	Better to Die than Be Killed
The Last Wave / int_99298c71	comment	Better to Die than Be Killed: When Chris says that he is going to "return to the dreams", it's pretty obviously implied that he is going to commit suicide, because he would die anyway now that he has broken the rules of his tribe.
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The Last Wave / int_99298c71	featureConfidence	1.0
The Last Wave	hasFeature	The Last Wave / int_99298c71
The Last Wave / int_ab74122a	type	Wasteland Elder
The Last Wave / int_ab74122a	comment	Wasteland Elder: Charlie's tribe that formerly lived where Sydney is now is almost completely wiped out, and its culture is all but forgotten, yet the Aborigines look up to him.
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The Last Wave / int_ab74122a	featureConfidence	1.0
The Last Wave	hasFeature	The Last Wave / int_ab74122a
The Last Wave / int_af696bef	type	Fish out of Water
The Last Wave / int_af696bef	comment	Fish out of Water (ironically enough): One of the themes that this movie explores is people's reaction towards the unknown and unexpected.
The Last Wave / int_af696bef	featureApplicability	1.0
The Last Wave / int_af696bef	featureConfidence	1.0
The Last Wave	hasFeature	The Last Wave / int_af696bef
The Last Wave / int_af7d483f	type	Dreaming of Things to Come
The Last Wave / int_af7d483f	comment	Dreaming of Things to Come: The main power of the Mulkurul. And since David is a Mulkurul, his dreams are this trope.
The Last Wave / int_af7d483f	featureApplicability	1.0
The Last Wave / int_af7d483f	featureConfidence	1.0
The Last Wave	hasFeature	The Last Wave / int_af7d483f
The Last Wave / int_bcff3e56	type	The Last Title
The Last Wave / int_bcff3e56	comment	The Last Title: The title.
The Last Wave / int_bcff3e56	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Last Wave / int_d71d51fd	type	The End of the World as We Know It
The Last Wave / int_d71d51fd	comment	The End of the World as We Know It: According to Aboriginal Australian Myths, each cycle of history is finished by a global cataclysm. Too bad that the events of the movie are set before the end of the cycle.
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The Last Wave / int_d8f3dc8	type	Eternal Recurrence
The Last Wave / int_d8f3dc8	comment	Eternal Recurrence: The part of Aboriginal cosmology.
The Last Wave / int_d8f3dc8	featureApplicability	1.0
The Last Wave / int_d8f3dc8	featureConfidence	1.0
The Last Wave	hasFeature	The Last Wave / int_d8f3dc8
The Last Wave / int_fed07537	type	Mighty Whitey
The Last Wave / int_fed07537	comment	Mighty Whitey: The Australian society as portrayed in the movie deconstructs it — the white and the Aboriginal people live in completely different worlds, don't know or understand one another, and it doesn't look like the Aborigines are all that better off under the white people's rule. However, rather interestingly subverted in David's case: he is a Mulkurul, a clarvoyant with a connection to the Dreamtime from the Aboriginal folklore. However, the Mulkurul doesn't equal white people, and besides, David fails to inform the people about the upcoming danger anyway.
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The Last Wave / int_name	type	ItemName
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The Last Wave	hasFeature	The Last Wave / int_name
The Last Wave / int_name	itemName	The Last Wave

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

The Last Wave	hasFeature	Dreaming of Things to Come / int_610e9686
The Last Wave	hasFeature	Giant Wall of Watery Doom / int_610e9686
The Last Wave	hasFeature	The Last Title / int_610e9686
The Last Wave	hasFeature	Unseen Evil / int_610e9686

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