Heavenly Creature

Heavenly Creatures is a New Zealand movie based on actual events which occurred in Christchurch between 1952 and 1954. Peter Jackson, the director of this movie, is trying to interpret this true story to the audience to show us how the two girls came to murder one of their parents. The film conveys both fantasy and reality to get across his idea and what’s more important, is the creative and the unique way that Jackson has used to present to us, that’s how the director’s creative vision gave born to such a successful and sophisticated true story base movie.

In the opening scene of Heavenly Creatures, Jackson starts the film with a genuine travelogue from the early 1950s showing Christchurch as a tranquil haven of gardens and British-style buildings. The travelogue’s unctuous voice-over, in both its elocutionary accent and choice of phrase, indicates the documentary is aimed at potential British migrants to New Zealand. This drab travelogue functions both expositorially in introducing the Christchurch period setting to a modern, international audience and to lull us into a false sense of security about what is to follow. And then suddenly its sedate scene is abruptly broken into by noises and furious camera movements and we see two mad dashing girls hurtling through bush and screaming for help. This whirling camera and the abrupt stretching of the picture fill the screen and this create a disorienting, puzzling atmosphere to the audience and give a sense of nervousness into the opening scene. This scene turns out to be a flash forward to the film’s climax. It is like the outbreak of some repressed unconscious.