Bra Boys

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

The film 'Bra Boys' begins by describing the settlement of the Maroubra area and goes on to detail the often chaotic living situations of some of the areas younger citizens. From then on the story follows the journey of the Abberton brothers - Sunny, Koby and Jai - as they face court cases, gang violence and some massive waves.

While I can appreciate the rags-to-riches story of the Abberton brothers, for me the story never really seemed to hit home. This may be because of the negative stigma that often goes hand-in-hand with the Bra Boys. However, I believe it is much more simple than that: it is a poorly directed and edited film. Too often was I distracted by the uneven sound, sub-par camera work and jumpy interview sequences.

Yet, the film really shines when it is left to people other than the Abberton brothers to describe the various incidents through their own retelling. This balances the film nicely, rather than have Koby or Jai recount their own court cases and possibly omit certain details. Another element that enhances this film is the surf footage, which really is the tie that binds all these 'Bra Boys' together.

But I found that the negatives far outweighed the positives for this film. It provides an interesting insight into one of Australia's most notoriously tight-knit surf cultures, yet the Abberton influence raises questions of bias regarding the various events which envelop his brothers. For me, this film was interesting but far from great.

BRA BOYS Genre: Documentary Run Time: 85 Minutes Rated: M Country: Australia Director: Sunny Abberton

Bra Boys is a compelling documentary of the infamous surf gang, the Bra Boys. The story is centered around the three Abberton Brothers Jai, Sunny and Koby who joined together with other young kids going through disadvantaged upbringings. The three brothers, as well as their younger brother Dakota (who isn't mentioned in the story much) are looked after by their grandmother Ma, who becomes the boys mother, mentor and gang leader after drugs and abuse, tore apart their relationship with their mother. The Maroubra beach gangs story is a scary incite in to the Australian beach culture in the Sydney suburb which helped to form them. One full of drugs, alcohol, domestic violence, assault and rape. The director of this film, Sunny Abberton tells his side of the story on the notorious 'Bra Boys' and their story of hatred, distrust, and the love and pride they have for each other. For their 'Family' and for their 'Brothers'. The Bra Boys are amazing surfers, riding the largest, heaviest and most dangerous waves on earth and loving every minute of it. The documentary shows us mixed sides of the Bra Boys. Scenes showing their annual fun days dancing on the streets, jumping off cliffs covered in flames, on top of a very unimpressed bus drivers bus, to other scenes of brawls taking place involving guns, knives and various other weapons. The movie is mostly male dominated with the only females really mentioned being their mother Lynn who couldn't look after them due to her Heroin addiction and abusive partner, and the lady who becomes the most influential person in the boys lives, their grandmother Ma, whose house the boys hung out at and were treated with as close to a family life as some of the boys could get. Some of the boys still hang out there after over 15 years. One disappointing aspect of the story was the fact that Jai didn't use his brothers documentary as a way to tell his side of the events that happened on August 5, 2003, when he shot Tony Hines and disposed of his body over the cliff. We also didn't learn what Koby did to be facing 15 years jail. As you can imagine, the story is the Bra Boys, therefore it's their version and side of events so you can be sure that the police would completely disagree on most of the information mentioned in this documentary. However I found it quite engaging and it showed me a different side of the gang than what I expected. For example to be told that the gang was involved in the Cronulla riots as peace keepers using their multicultural backgrounds and friends to call about peace was news to me as I was under the impression they were to blame for it, and also the fact that they payed for Jess, a young talented surfer to go surfing with them. Russel Crowe narrates the story, his voice giving the impression of the tough, strong, masculine Australian men that the Bra Boys seem to be.

'Bra Boys' is a great piece of work, if a bit contradictory in parts, but then life usually is.

Georgie 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.

Bra Boys Review.

Bra boys is an interesting one sided documentary about a group of surfers in Australia and a story into their lifestyle. Bra boys is based in Maroubra, Sydney, NSW, on the 2nd most popular beach in Australia.

The documentary is made and directed by Bra Boys, Sunny Abberton and features many gang members and pro-surfers. It shows the early life of the four Abberton brothers: Sunny, Jai, Koby and youngest brother Dakota. We see their unsuitable upbringing and lives as children and why they turned all their attention to the ocean and surfing. The Bra Boys have very little trust and respect for police officials and try to protect their gang from outsiders. We can see that the documentary is from the Bra Boys point of view as it does not shows information from anyone else besides the Bra Boys and the Bra Boys friends. Bra Boys have one main woman in their documentary and it happens to be their grandmother Mavis. Mavis took care of the brothers and most of their friends when the Abberton brother's mother, Lynn was struggling with heroin addiction and had an abusive partner who once hit Koby. At Mavis' house is where the whole gang ideas started, the first gang was called ma's hell gang.

The documentary is mostly about the brothers and what they have been through. One of the most biggest and interesting event is the murder of Anthony Hines who was shot by Jai Abberton. Jai claims he shot Hines for self defence reasons, it was said that Hines had been after Jai Abberton after he suspected him of sleeping with his girlfriend. Although we don't get very much information on this event it is still the biggest as both brothers Jai and Koby are looking at serving jail time. Jai got 20 months in prison but then was found not guilty; we still don't receive any more information on the incident with Jai saying "I have only had to tell the jury what happened that night". Another incident that happened was on 22nd of December 2002 when the Bra Boys had a party for pro-surfer Mark Mathews 21st.The party consisted of 200 drunken men who got into fights with off-duty police officers who were celebrating a Christmas party one floor below them. That night only Bra Boys were arrested and all the police who were involved got off, this actually shows that the Bra Boy's got treated differently for something they may not have started, its no wonder they distrust the police.

Most of the time the Bra Boy's are just trying to have fun. They stick to the beaches and surf but sometimes like to set their friends on fire and jump into water from cliffs. Some critics have disapproved of this but I think it's their lives they can do what they want so therefore should be left alone. We do see some fights that occur during the documentary but only the surfers against other surfers. We can determine who belongs to the Bra Boy's gang as most of them have 'Bra Boy's tattooed on them but in Koby's case he has 'My brothers keeper'.

Bra Boy's has a very Australian feel about it, this may be because the narrator is no other then Russell Crowe. The documentary also contains mostly Australian songs some by Parkway Drive which gives it a very Australian feel. We also receive some history on when the first fleet arrived in Australia and the controversy between them and the Aboriginals. I think it was a wise idea to include some history of the place where it was filmed because it could show why the Abbertons are the people they are today.

Also in the documentary it features the Cronulla Riots, and it shows how the Bra Boy's were involved. Most people thought that the Bra Boy's were probably one of the main causes but in fact they were the ones who were trying to make peace. People may have thought this because the Bra Boy's, when they first heard people were heading their way grabbed baseball bats and other weapons and went straight to the beach. They were only trying to protect their beach from getting destroyed. Bra Boy's also said that it wasn't all the Lebanese who were fighting, most of the people protecting the beach were multi cultural, Koby said some couldn't even speak English but was standing and fighting for Australia.

At the end of the film it shows people from Maroubra telling people what nationality they are, this is a way of showing that it doesn't matter if your not full Australian or born in Australia you are still apart of it. Bra Boy's must think this is important because they wouldn't have shown it otherwise.

The documentary Bra Boys is a very interesting point of view. I would watch it again and recommend it to people who are interested in surfing and the Abberton brothers. I don't think the Abberton brothers made this documentary to promote themselves or to make themselves famous, they just want to tell their side of the story. It shows their point of view and not just the media's. it is a very good film.

Internet movie database Nikila GYC