Cast: Eric Bana, Simon Lyndon, Vince Colosimo, Kate Beahan, David Field, Dan Wyllie, Bill Young, Kenny Graham
Andrew Dominik (Writer/Director) Michele Bennett (Producer) Michael Gudinski (Co-Producer) Al Clark (Executive Producer) Martin Fabinyi (Executive Producer) Ken Sallows (Editor) Mick Harvey (Original Music)
We here in Australia were founded - partially at least - as a big prison. >From 1788 England dumped its poor, tired and huddled convicts down here. No statue with an engraved welcome waiting for them, just a hostile, dry and hot open air continent/prison.
To me, this explains two characteristics that people find puzzling about the Australian psyche:
1) Our dry, dark "gallows" humour. 2) Our fascination with Bad Boys - the darker elements of our otherwise shiny, happy society
A classic example of the former is in "Breaker Morant." As Morant is about to be executed - by an English firing squad - the Aussie yells out to the gunmen "shoot straight you bastards, don't make a mess of it".
One of our major folk heroes is a Bad Boy. Mr Edward "Ned" Kelly. Bushranger, circa 1880. Our favourite song is probably Waltzing Matilda. It's about a sheep thief, who eludes the law by drowning himself.
And so to "Chopper". Not to compare him to Mr Kelly, nor to imply he is anything like a folk hero, but to put him - and this movie - into the broader context of the Australian mind-set. Well, that's the theory anyway.
Mark Brandon "Chopper" Read is real. Very much alive and living in Tasmania. To say he has lead a colourful life is to not understand the word colour. He started out in the 1970's as a streetfighter, moved on to standover man and underworld executioner. In 1991, whilst still in prison, he wrote his memoirs. The book "Chopper: From the Inside" was a phenomenal success. Part confession, part bragging and all wrapped up in Read's disarming, chatty and funny style. He even wrote poetry about some of his victims.
He became one of our bestselling authors and has written many a sequel book. And now we have the movie.
So how to make a film about a bloke who claims to have killed 19 people (but never an 'innocent member of the public') and yet makes jokes and writes poems about such things? Should it be judgemental or just feed us the data and let us decide?
It's a mercy that debut writer/director Andrew Dominik went for the latter. To be fair, it's not 'data' in the true sense; the film starts with a disclaimer implying that some liberty was taken with the facts per se. However the result is still stunning.
"Chopper" is a snappy, stylish mixture of extreme violence and wicked humour. Using unusual colours and playing with the film speed, Dominik transports us into the complex and intriguing world of Chopper.Brutal.Funny.Com.
He even uses poetry in one memorable scene, with all characters giving their rhyming lines to camera with the film strangely sped up. The result is all surreal and jerky; like a coloured-up version of an ultra-violent Charlie Chaplin. Oh, they are waxing lyrical about their roles in the same murder. The victim is in there too. You don't know if you should laugh or be appalled.
In the lead role Eric Bana is mesmerising. Best known here for his TV comic skills, Bana's electric performance dominates and carries the film. Bana is hardly ever off the frame. "Chopper" is a complex role, which Bana captures with great aplomb. He stabs someone and then we see the shock and concern - for the victim - build up in his eyes. The two dimensional pulp fiction character suddenly spawns an unexpected third dimension.
You may recall the disarming style of "Muriel's Wedding" - nearly every time there was a blissfully happy event, it ended in tragedy or despair. "Chopper" has the reverse; probably reflecting Read's own style. Episodes start off fairly friendly, but you know that it's going to end in mayhem. Chopper is rated R here and is not for the feint hearted.
Everything works - the writing, direction and postproduction. Bana and his excellent support cast bring it all together. The film doesn't take sides in a complex and dangerous playing field. Walking that fine line and still being an adventurous and entertaining movie is just one of its many triumphs.
5 out of 5. Ear ear.
Copyright (C) David Sidwell 2000
--
Regards, ---
David Sidwell
(Melbourne, Australia)
dsidwell@myemail.com.au dsidwell@bigpond.com
http://www.users.bigpond.com/dsidwell/
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