Romulus, My Father

I saw this movie the night before last - it goes to World Wide Release in 6 days time. The movie is an absolute must see - I don't think I can put it better than Helen Garner when she said "I can't think of a single Australian movie with such a dense and complex emotional texture. I know I will never forget it."

The story is uplifting in spite of tragedy of truly Shakespearean proportions. One of the most inspiring things is that Raimond not only survived but grew up to be as he is - the story is about the unbreakable bond between Father and Son, I was often in tears. Romulus was a "Very Good Man" (almost a Saint). We also get a keen understanding of the love of man for his fellow man, from the relationship between Hora and Romulus and especially between Romulus and Mitru.

The time and place is evoked beautifully as well as the colossal struggle that postwar migrants went through in Australia. Most readers will either not know or not remember that these were hard times indeed, in 1961 the Federal Government instituted a credit squeeze which almost destroyed the Australian Economy. The country people suffered much, as did the city people also.

The actors are brilliant - Eric Bana, Marton Csokas, Franka Potenta (you can't take your eyes off her whenever she is on screen - the woman is startlingly beautiful) and Russell Dykstra - all are perfect for the roles. The standout performance however is from the new child actor Kodi Smit-McPhee - he is a discovery on the order of another Haley Joel Osment, Keisha Castle-Hughes or Christian Bale. The boy is in almost every scene and he carries the production almost entirely on his little shoulders.

After the film, I recommend the book - it is beautifully written and easy to read and will explain what happened to all the characters as well as a lot of the subtext (the film coves a period of about four years in Raimond's life - from age 9 to about 13). The final point is that you have to pay attention to the film carefully - subtlety is the word here and dialogue is spare - you really need to look at the people to understand what is going on.

A broken family have a growing boy at his early teenage years and have no sense of responsibility to grow a child. Considering that both mother and the father is uneducated and clueless, they live in a farm before the World War II; we still have no idea upon why they ruin a child's life making a havoc of his psychology.

Proved by adversity the family have nothing to distinguish their boy, nor to give anything to make him happy, nor to teach him anything precisely good. Father gets to figure out that the kid needs a college education, and sends him to a college. Then after the suicide of the mother, the boy gets closer to his father. A happy ending occurs and mops up all the pain and unpleasant situations out of the movie, and hopefully out of the boy's memory. Thus, his father taught him one thing, a very important one, how to be patient of adversity.

For a tough story to put on silver screen, the actors' performances are somewhat exhilarating; and that's the mainspring to tolerate this movie. Within low-budget movies with no technical endeavors, if you like to witness a modest triumph of a child, much better than My Father Romulus, I advise you to watch "I am David".

My wife and I watched this excellent movie several hours ago in Fremantle and we both share similar feelings about this engrossing yet difficult film. My comment is in no way meant to demean anything about the film, rather it is simply a sign-post to direct some people to other films because it is a difficult movie to watch; it fleshes in segments of people's lives that, as a rule, are not brought to light--they remain closeted and spoken of in muted voices when they are spoken of at all.

In my opinion, Australian movies are a massively unique sub-species of what could generally be tagged "art-house" movies--movies that are drawn in colours that do not reflect anything remotely from Hollywood. These movies have certain characteristics: they are most obviously short on dialogue; the Australian landscape is so strong that it becomes another principle character in the film; there is not even a hint of "glitz"; the script is as close to reality as any viewer would likely want to get and the cinematography is bold, using close-ups and strong contrasts to accentuate the on-screen drama. Romulous, My Father had all of these elements and they were masterfully blended into an unforgettable movie.

The script was based on the memoirs of the boy who dominates the movie. Eric Bana, the father, takes top billing but the son is equal to Bana's brilliant portrayal. Diane and I talked on the way home today that we knew adults who were that boy. We did not know these families when the friends were small but we know the elements that combined to mirror the script we just watched on the screen. Change a few scenes here and there and it is all so similar. Australia is the story we saw today many times repeated.

I would recommend this film to Australians because it is the story of our neighbors or workmates and I would recommend it to people from the world over as a quintessential Australian film as well as an insight into who we are.

I managed to catch this movie at the Singapore International Film Festival.It was only one of the few movies that I was interested in catching because the story intrigued me.Not to mention that it had a great cast too. So Romulus My Father is story centered around young Raimond and his relationships with his dad Romulus and his mother Christina.Both Romulus and Christina are migrants settling in Australia and we see the emotional toll that happens between the three of them and also with Hora and Mitru both playing a big part in the lives of those three.

From the moment Romulous stars you have this strong feeling that your in for a great movie.And trust me,during those hundred and four minutes you will see a great story of courage,love and betrayal.It is a very emotional story and brilliantly made.You just know that everyone involved in this movie put their heart and soul into it and their efforts have certainly paid off.Romulous My Father is a story that everyone can identify with.The characters in this movie and their actions leave you thinking even long after the movie has ended.

Performances naturally are one of the highpoints for this film.Nothing new for Bana and Potente here.Both of them are great which is nothing surprising here since both are very talented actors.Suppoting cast is great too,Martion Csokas and Russel Dykstra are moth magnificent.But the real show-stealer here is the young but talented Kodi Smit McPhee who plays the young Raimond.His role is not an easy role to portray yet he does it with such confidence. You feel for him,for everything he has to go through with his parents and every scene he's in is just brilliant.Move over Dakota Fanning,this kid is here to stay! Romulus my father is one solid drama, with a captivating story that everyone can relate to. Not to mention is vibrant cinematography and top-notch acting. Its one of the films where it deserves a bigger release and seen by a wider audience. One can only hope that happens.

Richard Roxburgh has picked a difficult story to tell through a motion picture. For a first timer, he doesn't do a bad job. Through his cinematographer, he captures the raw Australian landscape beautifully and contrasts it well with the 'depression' of that time. He extracts phenomenal performances from his actors. He also displays the subtle layers quite effectively and seems to have an understanding of how difficult things were during that time. The only problem is that 'Romulus, My Father' moves at an extremely slow pace and some of the events appear patchy rather than smooth. Eric Bana does an excellent job. Marton Csokas is superb. Franka Potente handles a difficult role with élan. Child actor Kodi Smit-McPhee is terrific as Rai who is torn between his parents. The background score has a subtle effect. 'Romulus, My Father' reminded me of 'Angela's Ashes' but in my opinion, the latter remains a superior film.