Sssssmokin'

>> Jane Campion examines the gender divide in Holy Smoke

by MATTHEW HAYS

Leave it to Jane Campion to bring intelligence, wit and style to the gender gap. With her latest, the filmmaker behind The Piano, Sweetie and An Angel at My Table has crafted a thoughtful bit of bravado that's part seductive mindgame, part unique twist on the de-culting movie (i.e. Ticket to Heaven).

In Holy Smoke's opening sequence, we see Kate Winslet, here playing an Aussie lass in India desperately seeking spiritual enlightenment. She finds it, as it turns out, in the touch of a guru who changes her life. Winslet is soon giving the cold shoulder to her wimpy travel mate, who promptly returns home to suburban Australia with horror stories about Winslet's fate.

In sequences that are both hilarious and jarring in their stark contrast to poverty-stricken India, Winslet's parents respond in desperation, from the confines of their kitschy, bourgeois bungalow (from fake brick to various tchotchkes, the brilliant art directors behind Holy Smoke clearly had a field day here). Winslet's folks (Julie Hamilton and Tim Robertson) decide to take drastic action, hiring cult deprogrammer extraordinaire (Harvey Keitel) to rearrange Winslet's head. Mum then heads to India to convince Winslet that dear old Dad is dying. The ruse doesn't work, as Winslet is now buying into reincarnation (she'll be sure to see Dad in another life, she explains to an aghast Mum). But Mum's subsequent asthma attack means Winslet is forced to head home anyway.

And then, in what is one of the cruelest scenes I've seen in some time, Winslet is taken to a desert enclave and cornered into a prison-like existence with Keitel, who claims he can break the determined Winslet in a mere three days.

What follows is a truly mesmerizing mindgame, as Winslet turns to seduction as a way of turning the tables on the arrogant Keitel. As with many Australian films (think Priscilla or the Mad Max trilogy), the desert itself becomes a third character in the film, at once imprisoning the characters and freeing them to expose their damaged selves.

It soon becomes quite unclear as to who exactly the psychologically messed up person is. For both audiences and critics, I suspect the biggest point of contention surrounding Holy Smoke will be its conclusion, which is an unexpected bit of closure somewhat uncharacteristic of Campion. But the powerful bits in Holy Smoke remain intact, making it a film that demands to be seen. :

Holy Smoke opens Friday, February 18