Characters
Themes
Symbols
Setting/Landscape
Key Scenes
100
Federal agent who returns for Luke’s funeral.
Aaron Falk
100
Hidden truths corrode trust.
Secrets & Lies
100
Parched land = emotional desolation.
The drought
100
Town defined by drought and isolation.
Kiewarra
200
What did Scott Whitlam do?
Principal who embezzles school funds, kills the Hadlers to hide it, then flees into tinder-dry scrub and attempts self-immolation when confronted.
200
Past actions haunt the present.
Guilt
200
Empty creek = lost innocence, buried truth.
The dry riverbed
200
What does the landscape suggest?
A community emotionally dried-out, isolated, and volatile, where the land itself exposes buried truths and sustains economic decay.
200
What happened in this scene? What does it suggest about masculinity?
Pub fight between Grant and Jamie
Performance in front of mates - Violence as language - Stoicism - Rural vs modern ideals
300
Counter representation to Aaron?
Grant Dow
300
Community bias and scapegoating.
Prejudice
300
Everyday tool embodying potential violence.
The rifle
300
Farm that frames the central crime.
Hadler property
400
Ellie’s abusive father.
Mal Deacon
400
Struggle between self and town’s view.
Identity
400
Mechanical chimes = addiction/entrapment.
The pokies sound
400
Landmark bridging memory and trauma.
The rock tree
400
What does this scene suggest about masculinity? Address Grant and Falk - what is said overall?
Two competing models: domination-through-force (Grant) vs authority-through-control (Aaron)
Grant - attempts to dominate space and conversation but has fragile pride - when challenged, he escalates to reassert control.
Aaron - self-possession and restraint; lets silence do work; privileges evidence over aggression; emotional regulation as strength.
1000
Expectations shaping male behaviour.
Double points - 'name' 3 characters associated
Masculinity & Gender
Aaron, Grant, Luke, Mal, Jamie
1000
Pages that unlock the truth about Ellie.
Ellie’s diary
1000
At the dry riverbed final reveal, how does the landscape work both narratively and symbolically?
Narratively: The drought-scorched riverbed literally exposes the hidden backpack, resolving the long-buried mystery and collapsing the town’s false narrative. The land “gives up” the truth.
Symbolically: The landscape mirrors secrecy and emotional desiccation; when it yields evidence, it signals that lies in Kiewarra cannot stay buried.
1000
Name the exact scene and the single theme most foregrounded when the film cross-cuts cooler-toned river memories with the sun-bleached present, drops score for wind/cicadas, and lets the drought-scorched land “give up” a hidden object - and name the character whose long-term internal conflict is resolved in that moment.
The dry riverbed final reveal (Ellie’s backpack/Mal Deacon exposed), the theme Secrets & Lies, and Aaron Falk.