Fortress

Rachel Ward plays a teacher who teaches at a very small school in the Australian outbacks. One day, she and her eight students are kidnapped and taken hostage by four criminals in santa claus masks. They are all taken to a cave to be held hostage. The men block off the entrance with a boulder and leave the students and their teacher.

While being held hostage, she and the students build an oil lamp from some salad dressing from one of the students’ lunches and go exploring the cave for a way out. They find a body of water with a light coming from somewhere. The teacher swims to the light and discovers an exit from the cave. All the students swim out of the cave.

While searching for help, they come across an old couple’s home. But when they enter, they find the criminals are there and have already killed the old couple. The teacher and students are taken hostage again. But this time, they manage to con the criminals, knock one of them out, and escape. From there, they devise hand-made weapons from natural things (rock, sticks, etc) and then there is a show-down between the students and the criminals.
—Julie Angelos, Resident Scholar