Review of Bra Boys (2007) by Kinnon P — 14 Apr 2008

I really enjoyed the surfing sequences, and the documentary is clearly a chance for the Abberton family to convey their sides of events that've shaped their community and lives over the last few years, but it is just that, and with little or no criticism of themselves being offered up at all (it's all police harrasment, or "localism" or "defending" the beach), it's hard to fully connect with these guys.

On one hand there's the obvious commitment to surfing which cannot be disputed, and the other commitment to the young folks in the community to try and give them the same chances that were given them as young men. However pepper that with montage of drunk behaviour and then any sympathy for people impacting negatively on them immediately diseppears as sometimes they clearly do impact negatively on others.

There's no doubt as a group they have the power to be a massively positive influence on their community, and even through that, the kind of group that could break down and challenge the stigma they tell us is still levied against surfers round Australia.

But I've had a belly full of yob or thug culture masquerading as "just being mates".It'd be more interesting to me to see the Abberton brothers return to this concept in a few years with a braver more critical eye of where they stand and how to realistically improve their image, there's a lot of shots of the imspiration they could provide in this doc, I just think they shot themselves in the foot a bit with some members antics, that and there were no other women aside from the amazing Ma in this film at all, and I thought some more female commentary would've made the whole thing far less macho and humanised the group greatly.

That said, it's historical insights were fascinating, and much appreciated. Here's hoping from this point the tribe goes from strength to strength in the most positive way possible.