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1992
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ROMPER
STOMPER
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STARRING:RUSSELL
CROWE,JACQUELINE MCKENZIE,DANIEL POLLOCK, ALEX SCOTT,LEIGH RUSSELL,DANIEL
WYLLIE,JAMES MCKENNA,ERIC MUECK,FRANK MAGREE,CHRISTOPHER MCLEAN,JOSEPHINE
KEEN,SAMANTHA BLADON,TONY LEE
WRITTEN
BY GEOFFREY WRIGHT
PRODUCED
BY IAN PRINGLE & DANIEL SCHARF
DIRECTED
BY GEOFFREY WRIGHT
GENRE:DRAMA/THRILLER
RATED:AUSTRALIA:R/UK:18/USA:R
RUNNING
TIME:94 MIN
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With
its chilling and brutal opening scene setting the tone, Romper
Stomper - writer/director Geoffrey Wright's controversial, confrontational
and violent movie about a group of Neo-Nazi skinheads led by the dangerous
Hando (Russell Crowe) - is an unflinching urban story with a hard
edge that separates itself from the fantasy inspired cinema which
dominated the Australian Film Industry in the early to mid 1990's.
Based in the suburb of Footscray (located in Melbourne), Hando along
with his right hand man Davey (Daniel Pollock) and their gang constantly
torment and battle against the booming Vietnamese community who they
believe are taking over Australia and robbing it of its heritage.
Hanging out in their local pub, Hando spots Gabe (Jacqueline McKenzie)
and epileptic who has suffered years of sexual abuse from her wealthy
father (Alex Scott). She begins a relationship with Hando, which infuriates
Davey who has developed strong feelings for her. When a couple of
Vietnamese teenagers are seen in their local pub, Hando and his gang
pounce on them, which immediately leads to an all out brawl between
the skinheads and a vast number of Vietnamese. Outnumbered, the skinheads
go on the run holding up in a worn down warehouse and planning revenge.
Yet those plans go astray when a bitter love triangle develops between
Hando, Gabe and Davey.
Romper Stomper offers an intriguing view into the lives of
a group of people who are constantly at odds against the world. Theirs
is a life of hatred and violence, getting their kicks out of beating
up immigrants, tormenting the homeless, and vandalising public property
while living off Government funded unemployment payments.
Wright does well by presenting his characters not as two dimensional
caricatures, but as human beings who hold a straight forward and flawed
view of the world they inhabit. Hando is the most extreme of the lot.
An avid reader of Mein Kampf, he is heavily tattooed with Nazi symbols
and is a collector of Nazi memorabilia, his walls plastered with pictures
of his idol, Adolf Hitler. He holds a strong belief that his county
is losing its heritage to the steady flow of immigrants who have chosen
Australia as their new home. This leads to the constant number of
contradictions and hypocrisies found within his beliefs. Never mind
the Nazi gang member using a nunchaku (a Chinese martial arts weapon
made famous by Bruce Lee) to attack the Vietnamese, or Hando lashing
out at his followers for eating pasta because its "wog"
food (wog being a derogatory word for a person of European ancestry)
even though the man he admires - Hitler - is also European. The biggest
flaw in his beliefs comes from the fact that he and his gang are direct
ascendants of the original wogs, the original immigrants who invaded
Australia a little over 200 years ago almost ridding it of its indigenous
heritage.
Crowe is excellent in his breakthrough leading role which caught the
eye of numerous casting agents in the U.S. (with this performance
landing him the role of Officer Bud White in L.A.
Confidential). Jacqueline McKenzie exhibits great
acting chops and unflinching courage with those extreme sex scenes,
and Daniel Pollock proves his worth as a rising new talent, leaving
this viewer wondering just where his career could have gone had he
not committed suicide after filming was completed.
John Clifford White's eerie, pulsating score reminds of the Jaws
theme with its representation of dread and danger, but this
time out instead of a Great White Shark it is a Great White Skinhead
which is causing all the destruction.
Romper Stomper is a fascinating movie that will stay with me
for a long time. It shows humanity at its most extreme, made worse
due to the possibility that there just may be a Hando somewhere in
your (or my) town.
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