"Holy Smoke" review by Zach M. and Vik S.

            How well do you know yourself? Without much thought the answer is quick; very well. After all, who would know me better than myself? Jane Campion's film, Holy Smoke, challenges to take a closer look at how well one can know themselves. Also the film has an interesting take on the three act story structure. The viewer watches as the characters and the structure collapse at the same time. This adds to the overall sense that the mind is never as stable as we would like to believe.

            The films starts off with our main character, Ruth (Kate Winslet), in Dehli. Instantly the viewer gets the sense that she is searching. She is not there for a particular purpose. Ruth is just there, soaking it all in; the people, the environment, the religion, the overall culture. Unlike Ruth, her friend on this trip is not as open to what is going on around her, and leaves to go back to the girls home town in Sydney Australia. When Ruth's mother hears that Ruth has decided to stay, she makes the decision to head to India, and trick her to come back home. Ruth is surprised when she gets back home to see her father not dieing, but more so, about the fact that her family has hired a “Cult Exiter” to rid her of the beliefs instilled by a guru that she met in India. PJ Waters (Harvey Keitel), the cult exiter, is notorious for the success with his clients and appears to have a stable understanding of who he is. His strategy is a ridged, fail proof, three part program. Each part taking a day to complete. His program and mind set seem rock solid. By the end of  the three days Ruth is for sure to be back to “normal” and everything can return to how it once was. However, this is not how the film is going to go.

            The film plays with the idea of the number three and can be pointed to as a theme. The number itself is stable. One, two, three. Beginning, middle, end. One, to be made aware; Two, to get the beat; and three to prepare and end.  People can feel comfortable with this number structure. Holy Smoke sets up this structure very nicely. One, we know what has happened to Ruth. Two, we know what is going to be done. And by the time we come to three we have an idea of what should happen to keep us, the viewer, comfortable. It's at this point Jane Campion throws a wrench into the whole system. The wrench being, the idea that the human mind is very fragile. No matter how stable a person thinks they are, something or someone can make that same person feel like they are lost in the world.

            The Number three comes up a couple of different ways in the film. PJ has a three day program with three steps. The first two steps go as plan, but again, it is the third number that the problem is enforced. There is even a quote of PJ supporting this point, “Step Three...shit.” Also there are three sex encounters with the main characters, Ruth and PJ. First, Ruth provoking and PJ hesitating, then PJ provoking and Ruth hesitating. Then finally, the third where they both are openly excepting and the viewer is lead to believe that everything is going to be alright, but once again Jane Campion does not let that happen. As you can imagine, disrupting this important final number, the film gets pretty chaotic towards the end. Nothing is stable and there is a lot of confusion. Not only by the characters, but also the viewer too. The comfort of the three act structure is gone and the mind feels lost. This might be why it took me a while after watching the movie to decide that I liked it. Even though it raps up pretty nicely, I still felt like I was out in the desert, wearing a dress and lip stick with one boot on getting pecked by emus while searching for my newly found love.