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Billed as a tough-as-nails take on racism in a small South Australia town, AUSTRALIAN RULES is better described as a coming of age story under the harshest of conditions as a young boy learns to stand up to his oppressive father.

Based on the book `Deadly Unna' by Phillip Gwynne, the screenplay by Gwynne and director Paul Goldman walks a fine line as it deftly exposes the hypocrisy of racism, without the unnecessary preaching that could so easily have slipped the story into melodrama. Also well balanced are two excellent subplots - the rag tag footie team attempting to win the all important Premiership, and the romantic subplot of the lead character, Blackie, pursuing a taboo love affair with an Aboriginal girl.

The cast of unknown actors is uniformly good, portraying both the hard hitting drama and lowbrow comedic moments with equal strength and aplomb.

AUSTRALIAN RULES is definitely worth a try.

Australia Rules begins like most sports movies. We follow a ramshackled team of underdogs as they prepare to play in the final of an Australian football match. However, the film quickly becomes a race drama showing the conflict in the team between the white and superior Aboriginal players, which manifests itself on the whole small town. We follow Blackie, played charismatic by Gary Black, whose best friend is Aborigine Dunby Red, the team's star player.

The film's topics are handled well, without dipping into cliché. The pacing of the film is excellent, showing how racial conflicts can escalate. However, the third act of the film lets it down. The film seems to be building to the race problem exploding, but instead fizzles out. The lack of conclusion is frustrating, although realistic.

The main problem is not so much that the film is bad. It's not. It just feels like it is going over similar ground to many films before. While always being enjoyable, it is never gripping. The direction by Goldman, particularly in the sports scenes, is very perfunctory.

I watched this movie on SBS last night, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Being from South Australia myself it touched me more than i thought it would, as i somehow lost interest in Aussie Rules Football a number of years ago. A simple yet deep movie, & powerful in a supple way. Depicts the separate lives of indigenous / white fellas living together in a rural setting. Where Even when best of mates from each culture can have dramas just being mates, due to the others color . Reminiscent to me of of Another Great South Australian movie - Fire in the stone . Harsh landscapes & arid South Australian land mixed HOT coastline add to it perfectly . Purely South Australian.

GREAT. do enjoy

it's been a long time since i've posted a review. i didn't think i needed to. but this film makes me think otherwise.

Australian Rules is a small film. Even by Australian standards. Yet I think it is a highly important film.

It is understandable that the local Aboriginal community may not have wanted to participate in this production. It was probably too close for comfort.

The first part of the film is the carefree, commedic and spirited aspect. It showed signs of the signature Australian 90s filmmaking, the quirky, commedic and feel good type of movie. Then it moves onto the tragic and the dramatic. I think the latter is far more interesting and I am glad that the new wave of Australian filmmaking are concentrating on these aspects (Lantana, Rabbit Proof Fence, Till Human Voices Wake Us).

Australian Rules is a sensitive film. It deals with contentious issues and things we would probably rather not know about. This film has a social conscience and is extremely relevant in this day and age to Australia.

Everyone was great in it. From the coach, to the racist 'manly' father, to Blacky, to Clarence to Dumbie and even Pickles. Special mention to Blacky's mother, the intelligent, wise (and football fanatic) woman who still puts up with her husband's abuse but like Blacky, seems to be above her company.

More people should see this film. Especially Australians.

OK, being Aussie Rules, it's actually a game of four quarters, but let's come back to that. It drew on clear dramatic links with commedia dell'arte and ancient classical theatre, and the comedy masks of the first half were rapidly replaced by the tragedy masks of the second. It has its obvious connections with Romeo and Juliet / West Side Story, depicting a love affair across a supposedly unbridgeable divide, which survives despite the girls' brother/kinsman being murdered by a friend/kinsman of the boy, in this case his sadistic racist bully of a father.

The first half is pure Boy's Own book stuff. First quarter, the underdog footy team of a small coastal town on the Eyre Peninsula has just won its way through to the regional Grand Final despite the stupidity of its cardboard cut-out coach, and his mindless `tactics'. The Pantaloon clown act of old man Darcy links to the second quarter, the final itself, where the team's progress towards annihilation by brutally tough opponents is suddenly halted and reversed when the young hero Blacky (who is white) has his moment of inspired brilliance, in this case by listening to his footy-mad mum, who tells him to ignore the coach's directions. Yes, it's straight out of the comic books, with Thumper the opposing ruckman truly larger than life, and Pickle's incredible sheep-shagging imitation just one of many well-shot moments of slapstick visual comedy.

The underlying element of racial tension, whilst made plain in the first half, provides no real presentiment of how suddenly it is about to explode from the moment when rising footy star Dumby Red (who is aboriginal), clearly the best player on field in the final, is overlooked at the medal presentation in favour of the coach's uninspired and uninspiring son. The violent third quarter is where Blacky finds himself embarking upon his hero's journey, no less complicated by him also having to cope with a whole raft of strange new emotions in his innocent teenage romance with aboriginal girl Clarence. This comes as an equally sudden development, despite being semaphored like a goal umpire's flags, as one sees her transformed in a couple of brief shots from the nameless `girl from the mission' into the love of his life.

We shouldn't be too critical if the final quarter fails to bring any real resolution, and certainly no evidence of redemption, prior to the siren. Outside Hollywood that's what life is like. But at 95 minutes, the movie is not overly long, and another ten minutes of developing and rounding out characters and relationships, perhaps also at the expense of a couple of shots of first half slapstick, might have helped. I'd like to have seen a couple more minutes given to a sensitive handling of the recognition and communication of mutual boy-girl attraction, and some dimension given to the aggressive black activist, whom I found to be another cardboard cut-out, merely remaining in the same peripheral category as the racist publican, played by `Beau'.

I came out of `The Tracker' feeling breathless at what I had just seen. I came out of `Aussie Rules' thinking I was glad I'd seen it, but that whilst they had kicked a good few goals, they also hit the post a couple of times (explanation for non-Aussies: hitting the post scores just one point, whilst a goal, if you kick the ball clean through between the main goal posts, scores six).

I gave it 7/10, and might well raise that to 8 on a second viewing.

It is a very good film in parts but as a whole it does not really work. I think that Paul Goldman has great potential but maybe not fully shown in this film.I liked the way the black versus white racial divide was shown in a very sensitive way. It shows one angle into Australian culture.

I have just returned from an advanced preview screening of this powerful film and was happy to have the opportunity for a Q & A session with the three young stars of the film.

Aboriginal actress, Lisa Flanagan, was moved to tears as she spoke about the emotional turmoil that making this film caused her. Her mob is from South Australia and are closely linked to the real-life events on which this film is based.

Lisa is off to Edinburgh to promote the film in a few days.

Melbourne-born Nathan Phillips, who plays Blacky, was asked what he wanted audiences to get from the film. He pointed to Lisa and said "I want audiences to feel for even one minute the emotions you just saw from Lisa." And we do!

All three stars spoke of the film as a journey - and it is a journey well-worth experiencing.

Sydney indigenous actor Luke Phillips has plenty of TV experience but has made his first foray into feature films - and it won't be his last. A first-class performance!

International audiences have reported some problems in the early stages of the film understanding the local dialect and pronunciation but felt it was well worth the effort. I couldn't agree more. See it.

I should add that the film-makers did make attempts to discuss the film with the local indigenous communities. The cast even attempted to show them the script. For reasons of their own, maybe understandable, they didn't take that opportunity.

Dear Viewer - The film 'Australian Rules' is an enjoyable enough excursion. The plot, the whacky characters, accents and Cinematography are all 'ocker' enough to make sure that the world knows where it comes from. The trouble for me was that this was just a by-the-numbers effort. The lead characters have been applauded nation wide although the only true stand-outs were the mother and the (white) best friend. Rent this (as it won't be shown in the cinema; it only had the shortest of runs here) if you want the repetitive glance at small-town Australia. I only hope that some-one can do our great land justice. Still, it's better than some of the nonsense slumming about.

An amazing movie very different from the usual Australian "Feel good" movie. It is great to see a film that comments on contemporary relations between Black and White Australia - Showing faults on both sides. This film deserved a much larger audience than it got but I guess everyone was too busy watching Spiderman.

An Ok film, but suffers on too many occasions from the feeling that the story is standing still & going nowhere. Australian Rules could have well gone about five minutes less to improve its pacing.

There is nothing spectacular about film, the acting, direction cinematography, soundtrack are all solid & workman-like. No area of this film could be described as poor while at the same time no aspect of the film was particularly brilliant.

One thing I would like to congratulate the filmmakers on is their dramatic representation of the game of Australian Rules Football. Very rarely is the sport film & edited in a way that truly shows the way the game is played. the filmmakers must be congratulated on producing some dramatic re-enactments of Aussie Rules.

I found the story bad, the acting bad and the film as a whole bad.

No-one really cares what happens in a teeny-tiny town (Prospect Bay) in the middle of a nothing state (South Australia). This is another stupid film about stuff that happens everyday for most, but because it's "in a little town", they're all of a sudden cataclysmic. 'The little town of problems' is such a cliché. If it was set in suburbia it might seem more real to most of the viewers, who do go through most of these things in suburbia.

I have nothing more to say.

Just reaching the line limit for this stupid comment about a stupid film I suggest everyone to see once and only once.

Australian Rules is probably one of the hardest movies I have ever watched. It was up there with Hotel Rowanda and Ragging Bull. This movie deals with the underlying racial issues in Austrlia, between the Aboriginals and the whites. It does a great job at making you the audience feel the tensions and injustices cause to the aboriginals by racism. It is extremely depressing, so make sure you are in a happy mood before you watch it. Even thought it is so depressing it is a must see if you are an Austrlian, I feel. I am an American but, currently living in Australia, watching this film will give you an understanding about the wrongs of racism no matter what country you live in.

Some of the scenes in the first stage of this film were embarrassing. Supposedly funny moments were too obviously staged. And I found the friendship between Dumby, the aboriginal footy star, and Blacky, the unco try-hard who wants to improve his vocab, unconvincing. Some parts of the script were dreadful. The actors must have hated playing those scenes.

But once the footy nonsense is out of the way, this becomes a highly dramatic film, with good writing and excellent acting from the whole cast.

Don't give up on it too early.

Paul Goldman's debut feature film 'australian rules' is a thought-provoking film about racism and relationships. It is an accomplished work, with beautiful but never flashy cinematography by DOP Mandy Walker (Lantana, Love Serenade) and strong performances by its cast, including Nathan Phillips as the young protagonist Blacky, Luke Carroll as his Aboriginal best mate Dumby Red, and Celia Ireland as Blacky's mother.

Sadly, the film-makers' lack of consultation with the indigenous community of the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia has resulted in significant - and to my mind well-founded - criticism of the film. Based on the young adult novel 'Deadly, Unna' by Phillip Gwynne, the film is based on actual events - the deaths of two young Aboriginal youths in 1977, shot and killed by the publican of a hotel they were attempting to rob. No mention of this is made in the credits of 'australian rules'.

The film contains characters and scenes recognisable and identifiable to the families of the dead youths. Consultation with these families should have taken place from the moment the book was mooted as a film, not - as happened - when the film was already in production. This lack of consultation/awareness of Aboriginal culture and its sensitivities concerning death, mars what is otherwise a good film, leaving the film-makers open to allegations of racism.

Is 'australian rules' a racist film? I don't think so. Racist characters and phrases in the film go unchallenged, yes, but hopefully audiences are intelligent enough to see the truth for themselves, without needing clumsy and obvious cinematic signposting from characters or the film-makers saying 'this is bad'.

Overall, I recommend 'australian rules' to viewers, but I wish that the film-makers had shown more respect towards our indigenous culture rather than riding roughshod over the grief of the families involved.

Every time, this films on t.v. I watch it. This is one of those little gems, that you pass off or let slip away from viewing it. Okay, I'm South Aussie, and these locations used, intrigued me. I first put it down, the locations were closer to home. Then I thought, well may'be, they sat between Pt Lincoln and Ceduna. The hotel, and the old footy field, were somewhat familiar, locations used over on the Yorke. The location of Blackie's house was what I intrigued me the most. I'd say Fisherman's Bay. I was so right with the Yorke as I know Port Pearce between Balgowan and Port Victoria is aboriginal land. But getting on with the film, it's a simple forward story of race, prejudice, and truly robbing one black footballer, of a rightful win and trophy, on account of this undying problem, which catapults the black guy into madness, when stealing the trophy back on celebration night, from whence the tragic turn of story makes the last forty minutes, sit up and take note stuff. Luke Carroll was so powerful as the wronged of his win footballer, where Nathan Phillips wasn't bad as his mate Blackie. His mate Pickles, I hated. I've known a lot of punks like this, especially growing up, which the young actor gives a truly and magic touch to that intolerable character. Simon Westaway steals this film though as Blackie's abusive and very racist father, while Martin Vaughn is wasted as a hermit. Here's one of these eye catching films, with a simple moral and story, where unfortunately it's message, in this continuing day and age, is never changing. Neatly, well made quality, take note film.

I'd like to object to those that are bagging this film, yes it is set in a small town, but that is because IT IS BASED ON A TRUE STORY. I honestly enjoyed this film and it truly shows the struggle that the Aborignal people have gone through and continue to go through daily. If it were set in suburbia as someone has suggested, then it wouldn't be the same, small towns are hard enough without being what the majority class as "different" or "lower" and honestly when watching this film i wanted to run away from being white, it made me cringe that people would treat any other person in this manner.

Watch this film, open your eyes and take it in, and never treat anyone with the amount of disrespect that the aboriginal people have been treated with since we invaded. Its not HUMAN to treat others this way!!!

In Australia, white Australians which I am one of must visit as much information about racism in Australia as they can so they can stop the cycle. Respect for the First Australians is as an all time low by white Aussies and it has to stop, we are one, we are Australians, Awesome movie, watch it. The acting is outstanding and funny as hell. Sport in Australia is not only a past time but it is a way to heal the wide between white and black. The use of football is used in so many countries and in Australia to highlight racism in life. The story about the squirrel is a good one, and the clacker should have been explained in the website, clacker is the oh well I am a lady I don't want to say. This has made my Sunday.

This film kept me interested the whole 95 minutes. I thought that it dealt

brilliantly with the racial issues it talked about. My only disagreement was the aboriginal girl. I think that the relationship between Blacky and her was a bit unneccesary. Apart from that, an excellent film. 8/10.

There are truly two halves to this film. The first half kept me interested, but after the game was over, I was enthralled. And I am absolutely in love with Blacky. ^_^ I really hope this comes out on video. I'm just putting in my two cents here, since I saw the film over a year ago. Check the other user comments for more revealing insight.

This film was very hard to watch because of the story line and I found myself yelling at the screen for much of the second half. But it was captivating and was well worth watching,

This should be watched by every Australian and every person wanting to become an Australian should watch it and ask themselves "Do I want to be part of this culture?"

20 odd years since I first watched this movie, it's now much improved in my estimation. This has aged like fine wine...it's so well crafted and understated, obviously on a budget it had to be. Brilliant performances, soundtrack and visuals but the highlight is the the beautiful people/actors who agreed to be a part of this important story and put their heart into it.

I could write 1000s of words about the (race) politics of rural Australia that is on full display here, It hasn't gone away sadly which makes this movie even more relevant. Australia must come to terms with it's awful mistreatment of Indigenous people that continues 23 years after this movie was made. Always was, Always will be...

The novel, Deadly Unna?, was excellent! It had a brilliant plot and described the characters well. Australian Rules was just made to offend Phillip Gwynne, the author, and our Australian culture. With disturbing scenes, like the father, the maggots out of the Kangaroo and Pickles, and the loss of great scenes and characters (the Shed with 'Boongs Piss Off', Slogs the butcher, Carol and the twins). This movie is a disgrace.

I remember very clearly watching this movie as a kid in my lounge room and feeling a sadness I had never felt before. Maybe it was being in a close family then witnessing another family that is torn apart due to things I couldn't even understand yet. Racism, domestic violence, alcoholism, and simple stupidity and ignorance.

I remember feeling so bad that blacky could do little bout the events that unfold, the people and attitudes he has to deal with, and the painful sadness of being a big hearted person surrounded by people who don't understand him, and the ones who do also being victims of the lives they live.

This is a good movie, but it's not an easy watch. Tt has a truth and a straightforward nature you really only see in indies rather than the big budget movies. We also have a talent in Australia to make films that don't just have a set of convenient events that lead to a happier conclusion. It's simply life, in all its messiness and ugliness. I guess like blacky you just have to find the happiness any way you can.