Although riveting and addictive, something didn't sit right after watching Bra Boys. A documentary about a a beach gang situated in the Sydney eastern suburb of Maroubra. It seemed to me to highlight the problems with documentary film practices rather than pub brawls at city beaches.
When creating a documentary there is a certain amount of trust that the viewer instills in the film maker. Trust that they will attempt to portray events truthfully and that they will attempt to be as unbias as humanly possible. But this becomes increasingly harder to achieve when grappling with issues surrounding gang activity, especially from the point of view of the gang members. Somehow this doco seems to glorify gang activity and portray crimes as protecting their brotherhood. And although Australia is fraught with underground gang activity (as we can see from the T.V. series Underbelly, which has similar tones to Bra Boys) does it then become acceptable to portray clearly one-sided views on crime?
Another theme running through the doco is race. The Bra Boys were known to have had associated in the Crunulla riots. The documentary sheds light on these events, but could it be influencing more violence towards alternative racial groups in Australia. Living in a country that has these racial tensions as a boiling pot ready to overflow, documentaries like these could be what spurs on young minds to violence as an answer to racial, and any other problems for that matter.
However bias the film is, it does illuminate issues that benefit illumination, such as issues surrounding disadvantaged children and outlets for misdirected rage. This is what happens when children work to grow up with little parental guidance. Is that what the film is trying to achieve? or is it the increasing number of gangs in Australia? or possibly for everyone to take care when at Maroubra beach?
Whatever the message present in Bra Boys, the question remains; Is it safe to trust a film if it claims to be a documentary?
No comments:
Post a Comment