Holy Smoke

Ruth, a young Australian woman, is backpacking in India when she is drawn to a religious sect and its charismatic leader. When Ruth's family learn that she has joined the sect and has no intention of returning home, they trick her into coming home. The family has hired the American expert P. J. Waters to deprogramme her mind. All P. J. needs - or thinks he needs - is three days alone with Ruth in the outback. What follows is a mental battle of the sexes and two opposing set of values.

Holy Smoke, which director Jane Campion has written together with her sister Anna, is a fascinating and visually stunning film with a clearly feminist point of view. It is also a cultural satire of established Western values represented by Ruth's family and friends.