this Bermuda International Film Festival pick.

A better title for the Australian Hurrah which was directed by Frank Shields might have been Wasteland or more simply put Wasted . After his fiancee's horrific accidental death in a minced-meat pie factory, the main character, Raoul (Martin Csokas), buys `Hurrah' an abandoned farm -- a virtual desert in the middle of a drought.

Hurrah is essentially about madness and depression. The stark, parched emptiness of the world around Raoul reflects his tormented inner soul.

The plot is carried out at a snail's pace. But luckily, just when the viewer begins to despair that the entire movie will be about a man sitting in a crumbling house having a crisis, the mysterious and beautiful Julia (Tushka Bergen) arrives. Both fugitives from former lives (and not from prison as one might think), Raoul and Julia build a strange life together. But there are secrets, thank goodness, otherwise this reviewer might not have been able to stay awake.

The characters in Hurrah and there are only fourteen including three animals -- are, to put it mildly, odd. If there had been scenes of drug or alcohol abuse in Hurrah it might have made Raoul more believable because at least the viewer would know why he looked so wasted. Julia is also more than a little strange. The first clue is when she doesn't run screaming in the other direction the moment she claps eyes on Raoul. And what woman in her right mind drives around a desert in a red cocktail dress, lipstick and spike heels? Doesn't this woman own a pair of jeans? What does work in Hurrah is the overall artistry. There is a brilliant use of light and shadow in the filming. Most of the action takes place in a house that is surrounded by nothing but dirt, scrub and oh yeah, a donkey and nothing else for miles around. In one of the opening shots the viewer sees the shadows moving across the house to demonstrate time passing. In another memorable scene fog rolls toward Raoul and Julia very quickly. Perhaps film is the wrong medium for the idea of Hurrah , a series of black and white still photographs would have told the story just as well, or even a book.

It does mess with the viewer's mind slightly, which is arguably the mark of a good movie. By the end of Hurrah the viewer begins to question whether what happened actually happened, or whether Raoul dreamed the whole thing up in a protracted bout of insanity.

JESSIE MONIZ REVIEW REV MOVIES MPC