Around the Block

This is an infuriatingly hackneyed entry in the idealistic-teacher-saves-disadvantaged-students sub-genre. It desperately wants to be hip and socially relevant, but is relentlessly and embarrassingly dull. It's a classic example of what happens when film funding bodies like Screen Australia become preoccupied with ticking all the politically correct boxes. Aboriginal content and cast. Tick. Female writer and director. Double tick. Lead character tailored for an American star (however awkwardly). Tick. Story geared to a younger demographic. Tick. But none of these elements ever comes together, and the result is a lame mish-mash that attempts to sell us Aboriginal students energised by Shakespeare, Christina Ricci battling racism and exploring her sexuality, and a morally confused criminal sub-plot that weirdly shifts the focus from the central characters. To make matters worse, the depiction of inner-Sydney's Redfern - which is given an LA ghetto makeover (complete with burnt-out cars and fires in the streets) - is dishonest and laughable to anyone who actually knows it.

Around The Block leans on a wide array of emotions and generates a lot of power from the relationships that the boy Liam has in his life, including the ones with his father, mother and brother. Because of the strength in those relationships, Around The Block runs so much deeper than the teacher-student relationship that the majority of the film is centered around. Hunter Page-Lochard's performance as Liam is quite simply a standout. I enjoy emotionally-charged movies and that's where this one will resonate with me. It is also a highly-stylized and vibrant film which makes it an enjoyable experience aesthetically. Despite the familiar setup, there are very interesting fault lines running under the surface of Around The Block.

Christina Ricci is a very difficult Hollywood actress to categorize. While she has been involved in quite a few projects that are very commercially oriented (such as the god-awful "Sleepy Hollow"), she also has chosen many odd projects with far less mass appeal (such as "Pecker" and "Pumpkin") and has deliberately avoided the typical starlet persona. So, I wasn't all too surprised to see her, of all things, in a micro- budgeted independent film from Australia...yes, Australia.

In many ways, Around the Block is a lot like the old Sidney Poitier film "To Sir, With Love" combined with "Hamlet". I know this sounds strange--but the similarities become obvious as you watch the film. Like "To Sir, With Love", the main character in the film is a well meaning and super- idealistic foreign teacher who has come to work with disadvantaged city kids. Some might find this sort of idea a bit paternalistic--like it takes some American-type to come save the poor children of the world. And, while this might be one interpretation of the film, there is far more to it than this. This is because the teacher herself is a bit lost--and the movie is bound to turn a few heads with Ricci and the subplot involving her struggle with bisexuality. Again, I see this as Ricci walking to her own drummer in playing this character--and her rather steamy sex scene with a woman she meets in a bar will probably offend a few folks and inspire others. I definitely do NOT remember this sort of plot element in To Sir, With Love!

As far as the "Hamlet" element goes, you get it in double doses. First, this teacher wants to put on a production of this Shakespeare play using the inner city students from her school--and there is a widespread belief that these kids could never appreciate the play or rise to the occasion to successfully put on the play for the community. Second, the kid playing Hamlet, Liam (ably played by Hunter Page-Lochard) is in a position to recreate the play in his real life. This is because his father is in prison--and the jerk is pressuring his sons to avenge him by killing the man responsible for his incarceration. I liked this angle, as it made me realize for the first time that in the classic play, Hamlet's dead father actually could be seen as THE villain in the play, as he destroys his son in order to achieve revenge. On top of these themes, you add a lot of hip-hop culture and discussions of lost Aboriginal youth and you have this film.

So is this melange about two characters searching for a sense of identity any good? Well, I liked it. It managed to take familiar topics and make them quite unique and original. It also gives you insight into bigotry and dissatisfaction that folks outside Australia might not even realize exist. It's answer to all this might seem to be a bit simplistic, but at least it does address these problems and challenges the viewer. In other words, the film might offend you but at least it gets you to think and won't bore you.

The film depicts life down under in Spillane's birth city of Sydney. She focuses on a white American teacher, played by Christina Ricci whose character of Dino Chalmers is trying to make a difference in the inner-city suburb of Redfern. She gets a class of Aboriginal teenagers to perform Shakespeare's Hamlet with her lead being Liam Wood, a 16-year-old Aborigine who has a talent for dancing and acting. Unfortunately, his future is threatened when he gets in trouble with the law and police.

Spillane was herself a teacher in Redfern from 2001 to 2005 at an Aboriginal arts college where she instructed students of all ages, including teenagers. She wrote the screenplay in 2004 after learning about a real-life Aboriginal teen who also got into trouble with the law and police.

Spillane's film has this racial tension rippling in the background, or on the side. Her aim is more to take a step back and not focus on the specific incident, but rather examine the neighborhood and show the situation, which led to the racial tensions, or the needless death, much in the same way Spike Lee did in 'Do the Right Thing' (1989).

Make no mistake - anyone who gives less than 6 to this film is prejudiced, whether they know it or not, or they are white Australians who do not want to accept that there other "Australias" within Australia.

If you watch this film with nothing other than curiosity as to where it will take you, you cannot help but be blown away by the simple power of this film.

Kudos to the screenplay, kudos to the director, kudos to the obvious off-the-cuff but first class acting, particularly in the prison scenes and the first rehearsal, and kudos for putting it all together as if you are watching Life rather than a film.

It is a film with so many stories : Liam's of course, but, also, his mother's story, his teacher's story (Christina Ricci), his brother's story, his school's story, the gubba teacher's story, his brother's story, and last but not least, his father's story. All of these stories grab you by the throat but you have to not be prejudiced to "see" all those stories.

A brilliant film.