MAD BASTARDS
ABC 612 Screening
DENDY Portside Cinema, Hamilton
04.05.11
Brief Review
MAD BASTARDS is very well crafted, powerful and accessible Australian film telling a story of struggle, emotion, domestic violence, family connections and the journey from boyhood to manhood.
The film presents these as a representation of some of the issues facing Indigenous Australians living in the Northern Territory. Some may find it confronting, however the clever use of music and humour throughout balances the story well.
The film uses ‘roads' as a visual framing device to explore the journey of ‘Bullet’ and TJ. We start the film by viewing a sparse, outback road and following what can loosely be described as a gang of Indigenous Australians of mixed teen aged youth. ‘Bullet’, seemingly one of the younger in the group, takes a violent action, seemingly for no reason, that could be prove to be a turning point for the worst in his life. Similarly TJ, his estranged father, begins the journey to go and see his son (with some encouragement from his imprisoned brother). While following this journey of emotion and stunning outback scenery we are treated to some soulful yet upbeat music by Alex Lloyd and Casey Chambers among others. The performances by the lead actors really drive this story and keep the audience engaged from beginning to end – with very good reason. After the end of the film the actors are ‘interviewed’ and reveal a little about their own personal journey. A journey that is quite close to the material they worked on presenting.
This review is intentionally sparse on plot details as that would negate the need to see the film. Besides, the film is more an emotional journey than a series of events. The film does not really have an ending per se. Just like real life stories it is completely incomplete and the characters are perfectly imperfect. The perspective of the film seems to change though – at what point is a matter of opinion. In the beginning we saw things through Bullet’s lens – at the end we have experienced the journey through TJ. This in itself is a clever device to signify the journey for a boy into manhood – though we discover it is TJ that learns the most.
In summary, all elements are skilfully applied and the sum becomes much more than it’s parts. It is little wonder this film did attract attention at the 2011 Sundance film festival.
Form 9/10
Function 9/10
Thanks to ABC 612 Brisbane for the screening.
