The Bra Boys

Synopsis: The Bra Boys are a surfer tribe from the Sydney suburb of Maroubra. Prominent members are the Abberton brothers, Sunny, Jai and professional big wave surfing champion, Koby. This is their story.

It is a commonplace of media commentators that the relatively easy access to digital technology today gives everybody the ability to be a film-maker. Rarely has this D-I-Y opportunity borne as thrilling a harvest as in The Bra Boys, a mixture of revealing social documentary, action-packed surf film and passionate family drama. Move over Kenny and clan, with the Abbertons the real deal has arrived.

A phenomenon grown out of the housing commission estates of the beach suburbs of Sydney's south, the surf tribes offer an alternative family to kids whose own home life has been damaged by poverty, drugs and physical abuse. This, at least is the argument put forward with great persuasion by Sunny Abberton, the de facto paterfamilias of The Bra (short for Maroubra) Boys the most headline grabbing of the groups that spread along the coastal fringe of Botany Bay.

Narrated by Russell "Romper Stomper" Crowe there is little doubt that we are witnessing the Abberton's romanticised side of the story. According to them it is one of tribal brotherhood and loyalty with an almost grassroots social mission based around some heavy-duty surfing. Yet if these guys (and it is all guys) are clearly a lot more than angels with dirty faces, and whatever less palatable that has been left out, it is undeniable that they do represent a coherent sub-culture that has grown organically since the 1960s and that now has its place on the world map. With that has come a self-awareness and sense of responsibility that is taken seriously and, as the film exemplifies so well, must be regarded as positive for people circumstantially locked out of mainstream Australian society.

Whilst on the one hand Abberton offers The Bra Boys as representatives of the surf tribe phenomenon, his documentary, in a back-handed way of course, was given a major dramatic boost when his brother Jai was accused of the murder of standover man Tony Hines and their younger Koby charged as an accomplice. This kicks the film into its strongest section as the unexpected emotional crisis and the way it focuses their view of life is caught first-hand. Over-and-above the strength of the material, what impresses about The Bra Boys is that it is so well-made (the end section of the film that covers the Cronulla riots is a little ragged and could have been left out although, given the social historical aspect of the film, one can understand why it was included). I suspect a good deal of this is due to Macario de Souza, who is credited as co-director, cinematographer, editor and composer (and Bra Boy). However it has come about, The Bra Boys is a dramatically, visually and aurally vibrant story and one could hardly ask more than that of any film.

 

 

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