Shame

Asta Cadell, a lawyer, sets out across Western Australia on her motorcycle. When it breaks down she is stuck in a small town. There she meets a young woman named Lizzie and learns what has happened to her. The town knows what goes on, but nobody speaks; what the young men do is treated as normal, and it is always the girls who are blamed. Steve Jodrell's film takes its pattern from the western: a stranger arriving in town, a community that keeps quiet, and a decision taken alone. Deborra-Lee Furness takes the lead. The telling does not show the violence; it shows the consequence and the silence. The film made a strong impression on women in Australia and is now regarded as a cult title.