Bra Boys

"Bra Boys" is set in the Sydney beach side suburb of Maroubra and it focuses on the culture that Maroubra Beach has created. "Bra Boys" is a tribe – they don't like to be thought of as a gang – that have each others back in the financial struggle that some of the families have. The story is centered around the Abberton family, as Russ said, with the film being written and directed by famous surfer brother Sunny Abberton. Their alcoholic mother and her violent boyfriend brought up the brothers, which resulted in the brothers congregating at their Nan's house. The brothers were brought up not only as brothers but as best friends who used the beach as an escapism from their less than prefect life. The film also follows the murder of Anthony Hines and the involvement and trail of Jai and Koby Abberton. But Sunny does not only concentrate on just his own family, but how Maroubra and the "Bra Boys" came to be, as well as introducing other people important to him like his apprentice surfer. Like any surfer needs to Sonny inserts a lot of amazing surfing footage, some quite dangerous and tense, which ultimately is the most riveting part of the film. Though the film is not without its fault, you could imagine a man proud to announce he would never divulge information about his brother, couldn't write, direct and most likely produce a film that wasn't biased. The background behind the murder of Anthony Hines seems to be extremely selective, they of course never initiated any violence and they appear to almost be a very peaceful and passive surf tribe. This seems highly unlikely and I think the brother makes a movie that he would want to see. Often the cinematography, if you could call it that was a bit rough, sometimes only with half faces on camera. But it does set the mood for the rough tribe that is the bra boys. The folky surf music and often interesting interviews provide an entertaining and insightful window into the lives of these bra boys, even if it is a very blurred window. I highly recommend it.

i have been out of Australia for several years and had not heard of the bra boys although i have been to maroubra beach as a young lifesaver in the early 90's.

this documentary unravels to reveal quite a moving story of the Abberton bros. their struggle growing up, their love of their family & friends, surfing formidable waves and ultimately their fight for freedom.

i enjoyed this documentary greatly and hope to see russell crowe involved in a movie based on these surfers lives.

highly recommended

Just a little ways east of Sydney lies a place called Marouba Beach, home to the Bra Boys, a band of hooligan surfers founded by the Abberton Brothers in the 1990s, now made famous courtesy of a documentary entitled "Bra Boys: Blood is Thicker Than Water." When they're not out hanging ten or catching a monster wave, the boys are busy duking it out with rival gangs and even the local police.

The film, directed by Sunny Abberton himself, makes for reasonably interesting viewing, though one wonders whether the material itself truly merits a full-length documentary. It starts off painting the gang as a bunch of out-of-control hellions, then spends the rest of the time making the case that they are really just poor, misunderstood fellows at their core. The movie does a fairly convincing job in that respect - not surprising given the director's close personal ties to the subject - but the real stars of the film are the beautifully photographed curls the boys tackle in between bouts of anti-social behavior and revisionist self-reflection.

When the word documentary is mentioned the words boring and horrible pop into my head. I imagine wild life images with extremely boring narrators' voices that will put any normal person to sleep. The Bra Boys is anything but this sleep filled image. Filled with action and adventure it tells the story of notorious Abberton brothers, Jai, Koby and Sunny. The narration is by the manly Russell Crowe.

In summary this movie is the Bra Boys response to everything in the media about the notorious beach gang in Maroubra. The world finally gets to hear the Bra Boys version about Crunalla riot, Mark Matthew's 21st, and the murder of Anthony Hines. Maybe even more importantly it show's how these events affected a gang of boys, who in the media is portrayed to have no feeling at all. Yes it's highly bias, but wasn't the media's side of the story as well? It is shot in a very amateur way and in parts goes on too much. A lot like the boys are bragging about the things the get up to. There's a lack of women, and in some cases a lack of clothes. If you can get past these minor factors it's a good watch.

What is interesting and not deliberately put in is how well these boys have actually done to become at least half decent. Yes their idea of fun is jumping of a cliff a light, or bashing someone to a pulp, but at least they try to get the most out the life they have been given. They do the most they can to use surfing to get them out of the rut of their lives and then become good role models to the younger boys in the group, or at least compared to their home life. It's rather touching to watch considering what a lot of them cop at home. It's touching to see how much the Bra Boys support these boys and how much the gang is truly their family. It's very confronting because the viewer starts to realize they can't dismiss these kids as trouble makers, there's just so much more to their story.

They add to the story by showing a lot of Australian culture and the history behind it. There's some humour included when talking about the laws put in place that included men wearing skirts and other such ridiculous things the Maroubra authorities put in place.

This is why the film a worthwhile watch. It helps people see why these boys do such things. It shows a bigger picture of what the gang mentality is all about. It stirs empathy inside of the viewer.

What does get old in the movie is the amount of fighting that is put into the film. For a 'defence film' it was a wrong choice because it makes them look horrible. It's like they can't make up their mind if they want to be strong and tough, or terribly misunderstood. I guess there giving us the whole of themselves not just the filtered through good bits, and then it's the viewer job to decide how exactly they should stereotype these guys.

Nicole GYC

As raw social documentaries go, this one is surprisingly emotional. I grew up in the Sydney suburb Mascot in the 60s, behind the Sydney surf beach suburb of Maroubra; I went to school in Maroubra, surfed at Maroubra, lived at 433 Maroubra road, became a school teacher back at Maroubra in the 70s and taught some of the real characters seen in this film. So seeing BRA BOYS today is rather enlightening that such a generation has reveled in actual Bad Boy behavior, living out grubby 90s gang fantasies projected from distressing poor and illogical family schisms. Thank God they all have a Jackass sense of humor about themselves. The dangerous foolishness is genuinely hilarious, and as the documentary unravels it becomes more endearing as the viewer really gets to know the emotional side of a solid muscle mass of generational machismo. I knew three guys called Tony Hines, Tony Hinze and Tony Hinds. They all looked like the guy murdered in reel 5. One was gay. Often gang rapists are guys who actually want to have sex with a pal but mask that by abducting a female to cover their real intent. This is hinted at here. A lot of the bonding and reasons for, as depicted or explained here are also very same-sex oriented. That way they can be in a sexually exciting physical situation with another male. In fact the whole film is a celebration of very physical male bonding, young and older, mighty and mad, stupendous and stupid... reckless and devoted: the same conformities that bond the gay male community, something that has been explained in psychiatry about surfers and their male orientation gang behavior into male beauty and wildness and how it appeals. The only female of any profile here is Grandma; the one female to whom they are devoted and genuinely show their deep love. She pivots the film and it is her initial understanding of the basic needs of teen boys to bond which initiates the surfing gangs of Maroubra as seen in this generation. This is not to detract from BRA BOYS (that title might be a bit misleading for non English audiences though) because this documentary is ultimately a very rewarding and emotional display of astonishing family unity, care and unruly behavior. There are groan-worthy disappointments when the teens annoyingly bail up the local bus and terrorize the driver which is a rotten and stupid thing to do... but in a warts and all doco, makes a complete picture: idiots and arseholes last night but are taking a black dwarf surfing today. The three Abberton brothers of whom this is basically about, and their multicultural tribe of BRA BOYS now to be more Jackass than ever given the huge success of this film, will come out of this well, and I hope for the sake of everyone in Maroubra past and future take a more mature role and become tribal elders to a very influenced generation of young males. To bring this epic to the screen is a marvel in itself as this documentary is cobbled together from an enormous amount of out-of-focus footage, news clips, and wobble-cam images. The fact that it is absolutely compelling and ultimately emotional and well worth applause is a testament to the salvage expertise production crew and to the pursuit of this project by the Sydney film distributor, Troy Lum at Hopscotch Films. This house has been the source of some of the most interesting documentaries in recent years to hit local screens. His name is all over the film as it should be. BRA BOYS is a disgrace, but what a fantastic one. The final scenes of the multicultural make up of the gang is genuinely one of the proudest moments I have ever had in a cinema as an Australian and as a man one Maroubra generation ahead of this lot. Is Mark Whalberg is needed in a remake? We like our BRA BOYS exactly as they are. We saw DOGTOWN AND Z BOYS then the dumb LORDS OF DOGTOWN movie too. Beware.