Romper Stomper 20th Anniversary Edition
‘We came to wreck everything, and ruin
your life. God sent us.’
In addition to introducing a 27-year-old
Russell Crowe to the wider world, Geoffrey Wright’s 1992 feature debut
caused a furore upon its initial release, polarising audiences and
critics alike. Nowhere was this better illustrated than on The Movie
Show, with Margaret Pomeranz awarding the film five out of five
stars and David Stratton famously refusing to review it at all,
imperiously proclaiming that ‘the negatives should be burnt’ in light of
Romper Stomper’s allegedly amoral glorification of violence and
gang life.
It certainly takes a peculiar reading of
the film to find anything within that unthinkingly glorifies violence.
Wright, for his part, has defended the film as ‘profoundly moral’ and it
is difficult not to conclude that the central thesis is that love
redeems, while violence can only destroy. A simple and oft-rehashed
theme throughout human history, to be sure, but one that has rarely been
told so brutally, bleakly and unflinchingly. Romper Stomper is
by no means an easy film to watch, but it is an important and
groundbreaking work, particularly in the context of early 1990s
Australian cinema.
The story revolves around charismatic
skinhead and gang leader Hando (Crowe), who rules his white trash
fiefdom with an iron, tattooed fist. Gabby (Jacqueline McKenzie), a
drugged-up drifter escaping an abusive past floats into his orbit,
attracting the attentions of Hando’s beloved second-in-command Davey
(Daniel Pollock) in the process. Parties, mindless bashings, collecting
dole cheques, ruminations on Mein Kampf - it’s all in a day’s
work for Hando and his ill-tempered ilk.
This equilibrium is, however, soon
interrupted. As a war with the local Vietnamese population escalates
out of control - culminating in what is very possibly the most
exhilarating chase sequence ever committed to celluloid - it becomes
time for what remains of Hando’s rag-tag bunch of neo-Nazi misfits to
hit the road, hiding out and biding their time until the moment is ripe
for revenge.
Crowe is spectacular as the singularly
intense gang leader obsessed with racial purity and upholding the mad
creeds of a certain German dictator. McKenzie likewise puts in a
thrillingly compelling performance as Gabby, an abused doll-like waif
desperately in search of a sense of belonging, and Pollock, who
committed suicide shortly after shooting wrapped and never saw the
finished film, is also hugely convincing as the tormented, lovelorn
Davey. Wright in fact wrings every ounce of gravity and humanity out of
his hugely talented ensemble cast, and his gritty in-your-face
cinematography provides the perfect complement to the frequently
unsettling on-screen action.
The end result is a scintillating,
mesmerising and downright unforgettable film, certainly the finest that
Wright has yet made and as far as this little reviewer is concerned very
possibly the best Australian film of all time.
Audio & Video
Which brings us to the specifications. The
uniquely grainy original print has been buffed and polished to within an
inch of its life for this new HD release, which is usually a good thing,
but in the case of Romper Stomper with its bleached-out blue-grey
colour palette I think the grittiness present on the original DVD
releases was actually beneficial. It was certainly suitable to the
subject matter and milieu. At any rate the end result comes across a
little garish, more Romper Room than Romper Stomper, and possibly the
first Blu-ray I’ve ever watched personally where I think I prefer the
grit and artefacts present on the original transfer. The aspect ratio
is 16:9, as on the DVD, and the audio options are 5.1 surround or
two-channel stereo, neither of which differs much from what was
available in terms of sound quality on previous releases.
Bonus Features
All the bonus features contained herein are
taken straight from previous Region 4 DVD editions and are presented in
standard definition, namely:
- Geoffrey Wright’s Original Audio
Commentary
- 1992 Interviews with Crowe, Wright,
McKenzie and others
- Photoshoot Session (3 minutes)
- Theatrical Trailer
- A Short ‘Music Clip’
It’s disappointing that there isn’t any BD
exclusive or newly-shot content such as the retrospectives that adorned
the newly-released anniversary edition of Good Will Hunting,
especially for those of us that already own the DVD. The only real
selling point is the improvement in picture quality, but as mentioned a
little grain never really hurt this picture anyway and if anything it
looks a little odd in high-contrast HD. Still, it’s always nice to have
the option of Blu...
Released 2 October 2012
