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Clip description
Senior Detective Noel Birchall (Nicholas Bell) arrives at the scene of a mass murder on a suburban train. He’s on the phone to his offsider Detective Melanie Ryan (Fiona Macleod) as he walks through the hectic crowd of police, ambulance and media. Ryan has been talking to the only witness, Lavinia Smart (Maia Thomas), but in the few seconds since she left her, Smart has gone into a diabetic seizure. In the ambulance later, Smart remembers what she has just seen.
Curator’s notes
The scene is done in a familiar way, but with utmost confidence and panache. Following the detective’s back in a single shot from the car to the platform, we get a strong sense of the cop’s egotism, his lack of regard for others, without even seeing much of his face. His offsider wants to give Lavinia back her bag, which is still in the train carriage where the massacre took place; her boss doesn’t want to do that because it will ‘corrupt’ the crime scene. Lavinia’s diabetic seizure happens quietly behind everyone’s back. They’re all so caught up with procedure that their only witness may be dying under their noses. The music adds a superb sense of rhythm and drama to the scene, building quietly to a crescendo, as Lavinia is transported to hospital. The last shot is an amazing close-up, lasting about 35 seconds, giving us a chance to ponder the full enormity of what Lavinia has just been through.
