[5]

I’m at a loss for this one. I saw the movie, but I’m still not sure what it’s about. There’s a town that sabotages drivers, all so the community can trade auto parts among themselves and hand the drivers (the ones who live) over to a doctor for medical experimentation. The town’s adults live in fear of their own children, a punkish lot that patrol the town in tricked out cars reminiscent of The Road Warrior. The mayor takes a liking to one of the auto victims, but both characters are aloof and enigmatic enough to defy audience identification or empathy. If there were a clear protagonist with a clearer objective, it might have helped me sort things out. But I gotta hand it to Peter Weir for making a movie that’s tonally and narratively original and daring.