THE GREAT MINT SWINDLE

Australia, 2012, 100 minutes, Colour.
Grant Bowler, Todd Lasance, Josh Quong Tart, John Batchelor, Shane Bourne, Caroline Mc Kenzie, Maya Stange.
Directed by Geoff Bennett.

The Great Mint Swindle was made by Channel Nine for television. It is a very well-made television film.

Audiences may not be familiar with the episodes in Western Australia in the early 1980s, nor the subsequent legal difficulties as well as the exoneration of the central character in 2004. It is interesting that the two surviving Mickelberg brothers, Ray and Peter, both appear at the end of the film talking to camera about their experiences.

The Mickelberg brothers were something of larrikins, one had fought in Vietnam, another was a pilot, they all fished for abalone. They decided to create, for the fun of it, a nugget which they then publicised on television as being a discovery in the Western Australian goldfields. They had made it in Ray Mickelberg’s workshop.

After this, there was a robbery at the Western Australian Mint, gold being shipped out and never recovered (even until now). The Mickelberg brothers, with the publicity of the nugget, became the chief suspects. They were arrested, the youngest brother was bashed in police custody, bogus confessions were presented. They were found guilty and sentenced to different time periods in jail.

The three actors for the three brothers are very effective, especially Grant Bowler as Ray Mickelberg, the quiet and reliable older brother. Todd Lasance is the youngest son, Peter, who is telling the story. Josh Quong Tart plays Brian, the pilot, who is less involved – and died during these years in a mysterious plane crash.

The film opens with the car bombing of retired detective Don Hancock. He is excellently played as a self-confident ambitious policeman by Shane Bourne. By contrast, John Batchelor portrays Tony Lewandowski, his offsider and support, a rather more timid man who relies on the leadership of the boss.

The film shows the brothers in prison, the appeals and their being turned down, the brothers doing work to explain their case and try to find out what was really going on. They also have to deal with the prisoner who was set up to bash them or provoke them into fighting to prolong their sentences.

Eventually, Peter Mickelberg serves his sentence and Ray Mickelberg is finally released and an appeal made and the court quashing the guilty verdict on him.

The film ties in with a number of cases in Australia where the justice system seems to have got things wrong – the main example, of course, being the Azaria Chamberlain case.

The film is well made, well edited and pacy, creating characters as well as working on the emotions of audiences to feel the frustration and the sense of injustice on behalf of the Mickelbergs.

1. An Australian story? Television movie? For home audiences? Issues of justice, the police? The underdogs?

2. The story itself, audience knowledge or not being aware of the story? The information, facts, dates...?

3. Western Australia, Perth, Fremantle, homes, workshops, the beaches and the coast, the towns and the pub, the courts, prisons? The sense of realism? The musical score?

4. Audience interest, sympathies, issues of justice, disgust at the police, frustration felt with the Mickelbergs?

5. The opening, Hancock and his friend, the car bombing? Taking up this theme later?

6. The Mickelberg brothers, as characters, their ages, relationship with their mother, their families, the larrikin style, the abalone? Ray in Vietnam, Brian as a pilot, Peter as an eager young man? Ray’s hobby, the moulds and the hands? Their talking together, the prank, the cheques, the gold, working in the workshop, the ingredients for the nugget? The discovery, the television news, their mother being involved? This later being used against them – and the mother’s prison sentence (and the comedy with her wearing a wig and her being found guilty for wearing it)?

7. The background of the mint swindle, the cheques, the false accounts, the buying of the gold, the information about the deliveries, from the mint, the couriers, the disappearance? Peter’s reconstruction on the wall of his cell?

8. Hancock and Tony, tough, with the police chief, orders from the minister, higher up? The issues of WA Inc at the time? Corruption? Alan Bond, wanting to buy the nugget? The glimpse of the America’s Cup win in 1983? WA Inc, Bond and his jail sentence, these years in retrospect?

9. The arrests, the brutality, smashing the house, the interrogations in the cells, the different stories? Peter and his being stripped and bashed? The false confessions? Their being used as grounds for appeal? The greaseproof paper, the fingerprint issues, the expert for the Birmingham Six? The testimony in court, the prosecution, the decision of the judge? The later appeal, the issue of Tony’s writing, bad writing? Hancock and his collusion? The judges?

10. Life in prison, Ray and his being strong, Brian and his being overcome, Peter Young? The conditions, the cells, hearing the beatings, in the yard, the determination not to go under, their walking around the yard, the other prisoners, the mockery? The time of the sentences? The visiting sequences, the families? Peter, the proposal to Tina – and her later not coming, the returning the ring?

11. The strong characters: Ray, his leadership, quiet, reliable, the older brother, the SAS background? Brian as the quiet one, his family, finally getting out, his death – and the later visit to the tree in the forest where he died? Peter and his coping with prison?

12. Mrs Mickelberg, her support of her sons, the arrest, eighteen months in jail?

13. Hancock and his swagger, self-assurance? His place in the West Australian police? The echoes of Queensland corruption? Promotions, testimony, in court, his words to the media, his hold over Tony – and eventually threatening him? The setup with the prisoner trying to get the Mickelbergs to fight and get longer sentences?

14. The passing of time, its effect on each of the brothers? Peter serving his sentence?

15. Ray, the appeals, the role of the media, public opinion turning for the Mickelbergs?

16. The court sequences, Hancock and his tough attitudes, spurning the media, his golden handshake, his retiring, his pub, his daughter, the bikers in his pub, his stern attitude – and the later shooting? Leading to the car bomb?

17. Tony, as a character, subservient, living with his mother, his conscience? Following Hancock’s line? His perjury? At Hancock’s funeral, his mother urging him to tell the truth? Going to the Mickelbergs, doing the right thing, the apology, wanting to shake hands? Ray becoming his friend, the phone calls, talking and support? His death? Suicide or not?

18. The Australian public interest, the vindication of Ray Mickelberg, his future?

19. Themes of miscarriages of justice in Australian history? The Azaria Chamberlain case and many others?

20. The effect of the real characters appearing at the end?

21. The 21st century, attitudes towards the police, to the courts, to justice? The effect of this film on public consciousness?