MAD BASTARDS

Australia, 2011, 97 minutes. Colour.
Dean Daly- Jones, Lucas Yeeda, Greg Tait, Ngaire Pigram.
Directed by Brendan Fletcher.

The title makes it sound Australian. And it is.

It’s probably a fair thing to say that Mad Bastards should be seen by as many Australians as possible. It entertains, but it also reveals a great deal about aboriginal life in Western Australian communities in recent decades. (It could be seen in conjunction with Murundak, the significant musical documentary about the Black Arm Band, their concerts, their range of protest songs, and the narrative of life for indigenous people in Australia since 1788, the history, the stolen generation, political refusal of an apology and the final 2008 official apology.)

A distinctive feature of Mad Bastards is that the writer-director, Brendan Fletcher, spent a decade with the people of the Kimberleys, listening to stories, appreciating the oral tradition, collecting the episodes and fashioning a screenplay for a feature film out of these ingredients. He also has a cast of non-professionals – who are completely convincing in their dramatic performances. During the final credits, the main members of the cast are on screen being interviewed, speaking about their lives and their experiences, showing us how the oral traditions have been incorporated into the film.

While there are a few sequences in Perth, most of the film has been shot in the Kimberleys and in and around the town of Wyndham.

The striking opening sequence sets a tone. Some young lads make a firebomb and one of them tosses it towards a wooden building which goes up in flames. He stands mesmerised, watching it, but the camera highlights the anger in his eyes and face. His name is Bullet.

There are two other strands of the story which centres on Bullet (Lucas Yeeda in a performance that is impressive and convincing). The local chief of police is Bullet’s grandfather, Tex (Greg Tait – who is also impressive in the end credits’ interview and talk about character, criminals and police). Tex has brought up his grandson for his daughter, Nella (Ngaire Pigram, also worth listening to in the final interviews), who has been a single mother since Bullet was born and who struggles with drink and brawls. Tex is a good man, a powerful influence for order in the community. He points out that in the middle of ‘all the chaos and bullshit’ the community needs a strong person at the centre on whom they can rely.

The other key character is TJ, Thomas (Dean Daly -Jones, also impressive in the interviews which make us realise how much personal experience he brings to his role). TJ is Bullet’s father. After a prison stint, and being rejected by his mother in Perth, he travels north. He wants to see his son. He seems desperate to make a new beginning after all the years of absence and neglect.

The drama of Mad Bastards is TJ’s journey and struggle for some decency in his life and meeting his son as well as Bullet’s ability to cope with this father-figure in his life. And the drama consists of a slugging it out fight in the desert between TJ and Tex.

Mad Bastards tells a lot of the story as it is. The making and releasing of it, the dramatising of what is wrong, what goes wrong, and indications that making good is possible means that the film is actually one of realism and of hope.

1. The background of the film, the collection of oral stories over many years, the stories from the Kimberleys? Arranging the stories in a coherent narrative? The post-credits and the testimonies from the actors themselves about their own lives?

2. The atmosphere of the Kimberleys, the desert, mountains, plains, the coast, the vegetation? The range of Western Australian landscapes? “Aborigines’ country”? The contrast with the city and Perth?

3. The town, houses, pubs, garages, wealth and poverty, the homes of the disadvantaged?

4. The three strands of the narrative, coming together, the focus on Bullet, Tex and T.J? Men’s stories? The background of Nella’s story? Women’s stories? The elders taking the young men out into the bush, education, as a rehabilitation after the offences in the town?

5. Bullet and the fire at the opening, his anger, staring at the fire, running, Tex catching him? In the cell, his mother and her drinking? At home, angry at his mother, her checking on his homework? The party, the drinking and the fighting, Bullet watching outside? Breakfast at Tex’s house, his grandfather bringing him up? Sending him out for the trek, the swimming, hunting, the effect on the boys? His father’s arrival, his shrugs, going for a walk with him? His anger at his father, locking himself in the room, coming out, talking with his father, accusing him of coming and going? His father’s decision to stay? Bonds between father and son?

6. Tex and his role in the police, his quote that he had to be a strong person amidst the chaos and bullshit? His look, the uniform, his vehicle? Bullet’s grandfather, Nella’s father? Wise, able to read minds, the body language? His bonding with the elders? The confrontation with T.J., the argument, the warnings, leading to the fistfight? The bond with his grandson, with the community, keeping order? The men’s group, his wife and her advice? The silence of the men, their finally talking when Tex explained his situation, T.J. present?

7. T.J., his age, appearance, drinking, in Perth, going to the prison, talking with his brother, taking the toy, visiting his mother and her rejection of both sons? Travelling north, the lift, the Aboriginal group, the car exploding? Tex finding them sitting by the road? The drive, the interrogation, his realising that he was Bullet’s father? The clashes? In the town, drinking, the pub? Visiting Nella, wanting to see his son, the story of thirteen years’ absence? Wanting to meet his son, going for the walk after the silences? With Nella and the singing? The advance on her, her rejection? The fight with Tex, his decision to stay, waiting at Bullet’s door, the reconciliation?

8. Nella and her drinking, visiting Bullet in prison, caring about his homework, the party, her fighting? Tex as her father? Her love for Bullet? T.J’s visit, her angry reaction, his advances on her, the rejection, not wanting him to stay, blaming him? Her giving up the drink?

9. The men’s group, younger and older, the men’s meeting? The sausages barbeque, the silences?

10. The elders, in the town, out in the bush, the trek with the camels, the boys learning to hunt and survive?

11. The importance of the songs, their insertion throughout the film? The melodies, the rhythms, the lyrics, the mood?

12. A message film for Aboriginal audiences? The wide Australian audiences? International?