It has been a while but on checking BBC 3 on the iPlayer, I got a bit excited seeing some new programming for a later date. However, my eye drifted straight away to Australian television series and sequel to the 1992 film Romper Stomper set 25 years after the events in the film. I love the film. ok it was about far right skinheads. It was brutal, in your face and without political leanings just hate.
The six-part series follows a new generation of fictional far-right activists and their far-left, antifa counterparts, with the story focussing on a fictional far-right anti-Islamic group Patriot Blue, led by Blake Farron .
The film launched Russell Crowe’s career, the action has moved from the neo-Nazi skinheads on the fringe to the hate speech disguised as free speech of mainstream Australian politics. Moreover, the targets are now Muslims, rather than the Vietnamese migrants of 1992. Also, there is one of the best chase scenes in the film Crowe and his mates a chased by a baying band of Vietnamese
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| 1992 |
The new focus is a worryingly familiar breed of racists – hyper-organised “free speech” advocating White Nationalists. The shady group at the centre of this tale is an amalgamation of several real-life organisations that calls itself Patriot Blue, and, basically, their idiotic idea of a great night out is harassing the local Muslim community and brawling with their arch-enemies, a far-left group called Anti-Fasc.
The series opens with Farron’s group protesting a Halal food festival in Melbourne when the extreme-left Anti-Fasc (the series’ version of Antifa) appear and it turns violent.
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| 2017 |
In the ensuing melee, a Muslim university student, Laila, unwittingly becomes the face of her community. Also on the scene is Kane (Toby Wallace), the son of Gabrielle (Jacqueline McKenzie, reprising her role from the 1992 film). His arrival into this powder keg escalates things quickly as the group turns to street violence against anyone “not worthy” in their warped creed.
If it’s purely for entertainment, then you have to question the wisdom of exploiting the politics of division, and depicting these white nationalists, these violent, so-called defenders of Australian values, gloriously speechifying about how it’s been assaulted.
While the show is better than the film at countering time spent with the racists by giving some insight into the other groups — this time, the anarchists and the Muslim community — it still gives a lot more airtime and complexity to the white nationalists. There’s a real danger in that imbalance. I have no interest in the subject matter of both the film and the TV series I was hoping to be entertained but the TV series was a let-down.
Riding off the back of the film this was not worthy of an hour of my time but did just about enough for me to watch the second episode. Yes, it’s heavy on the racism, hatred with a few punch-ups but it could be two groups of any gangs like football hooligans or street gang defending the neighbourhood or postcode. It doesn’t take long before Kane is slipping one to Farron’s young wife/girlfriend, I did see that happening.
One highlight Jacqueline McKenzie who plays Gabe in both the original movie and the new TV series who I had a major crush on in the film and now I would say hotter now and moving over the line from crush to lust.
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