Down Under
Director: Abe Forsythe
Film review by Rob Clarkson
The Cronulla Riots of December 2005 were a series of deeply disturbing brawls which came from a dispute between lifeguards and young men of Middle Eastern origin at Cronulla Beach. It was an event which provided a glimpse of the deep cavern of racism in Australia. Writer and Director Abe Forsythe’s fine dark comedy ‘Down Under’ is set in the days immediately following.
The early helicopter shots of southern Sydney suburbia suggest to us that the easiest way to assess the riots is through sweeping overviews and that the detail of the individuals involved necessarily requires more fine-grained analysis. This film offers us that street-level perspective.
Forsythe presents us with two gangs: one group of ‘Aussies’; one group of ‘Lebs’. The structures within these groups mirror each other. Each group has one character of subtlety and nuance who is banded with heavy-handed, near-stereotypical, accomplices. There’s no shortage of broad humour here though it’s the gentler, funny moments (and there are plenty of these) that work best. The script is most engaging when serving deft asides, all of which the excellent cast proffer well.
“We’re challenged with examining the universal question of what happens when good hearts are poisoned by fear, peer pressure and the mob.”
We’re challenged with examining the universal question of what happens when good hearts are poisoned by fear, peer pressure and the mob. But this is a very Australian tale and the final scenes, shot quite appropriately near the shores of Botany Bay where both Cook and Philip imagined a colony based on dispossession, leave us wondering ‘really, whose country is this, anyway’?
“Down Under” opens in cinemas around Australia on August 11.
