CEDAR BOYS
Australia, 2009, 100 minutes, Colour.
Les Chantery, Buddy Dannoun, Bren Foster, Rachel Taylor, Martin Henderson.
Directed by Serhat Caradee.
There is always enormous potential for Australian films in looking at the different migrant groups who have settled, how they have settled and how they relate to the previous generations of Australians. We have seen films about Italians, Greeks and Poles. We have seen films about the Chinese and the Vietnamese. Here is a film about the Lebanese.
Cedar Boys is a small budget film about a group of young Australian men of Lebanese background. The central character is Tarek (Les Chantery) whose parents don't speak much English. He is a panel beater and has dreams of bettering his life. When his friend Nabil (Buddy Danoon), a builder, finds some drugs and they team up with a spiv-like friend, Sam, the dreams begin to over-develop. At the same time, Tarek meets some girls at a club and forms a friendship with one, Amie (Rachael Taylor).
It all seems too good to be true, getting money, getting the girls, experimenting with the drugs, Tarek also offering to put money into an appeal for his brother Jamal who is in jail. Of course, it is too good/bad to be true for the young men and they are found out by the real drug dealers which sets everything in motion for a climax and potential tragedy.
The material has been seen any number of times but it is the ethnic background which is of interest here, the glimpses into another side of Sydney suburbia, and Tarek proves to be an interesting and sympathetic character. Rachael Taylor has appeared in American films like The Transformers and there is a guest appearance by Martin Henderson, but the rest of the cast is local. A small film but well made of its type.
1.A film about Sydney? A section of Sydney? An ethnic group? How interesting? In comparison with stories about other ethnic groups in the city?
2.The Lebanese background, characters? Christians, Muslims? Seeing Jamal pray in the prison? The secular attitudes of the younger generation? The language and religion of the parents? A satisfying indication of the ethos of Lebanese life in Sydney?
3.The city, the suburbs? Homes, repair shops? Clubs? The interior clubs for drug dealers? The musical score?
4.The title, the cedar as the symbol of Lebanon? The cross-section of Lebanese young men?
5.Tarek, the focus on him? His place at home, his parents and their not speaking English, his father as the patriarch, the mother and her concern? The younger sister and her being very much in the Australian style? Jamal, in prison? His work as a panel beater? His dreams of a better life, a different suburb, a better home? His concern about Jamal and trying to find the money for his appeal? His friendship with Nabil? Their work together, going to the club, their being refused, Nabil getting them in? Meeting with Amie and Brigid? The bond with Amie? The possibilities of a friendship? His seeing her as a pole dancer, his revulsion? The phone calls, the clashes? The possibility of making up with her?
6.Jamal, in prison, Tarek going to visit him? The money for the appeal? Jamal and his hopes? Tarek returning, confessing that he didn’t have the money? Jamal, his contacts in prison, Simon and the protection for the group? Jamal’s reaction to Tarek’s death? Killing Simon in prison – and the other prisoners covering up? His being seen praying devoutly?
7.The drug situation, finding the drugs? Nabil, working on the house site? Their teaming up with Sam? Sam and his happy-go-lucky and irresponsible attitude? Cutting up the drugs? Selling the pills? Amie and Brigid as clients? Tarek being forced to take one of the drugs? His reaction?
8.Sam, the deals, the money? The money coming in and Tarek buying a new television, going to visit Jamal in prison?
9.The details of the life of the Cedar Boys in Sydney, driving around, Nabil and his caution with the police? Sam and his lack of caution?
10.The Australian drug dealers, the connection with Matthew? Taking the Cedar Boys, confronting them, demanding the money back, the twenty-four hour limit? Tarek and his desperate attempts, to give the drugs back, to get Sam and the money? Not quite meeting the requirements?
11.The build-up to the climax? The confrontation between the Cedar Boys and the other dealers? The guns? The shooting, the dealers being wounded, the shock of Tarek’s death? The police, Tarek being carried out, the police going to his home to tell his parents?
12.The background characters? The dealers, the clubs, the clients, the building sites? How well delineated were the characters? Or just part of the background to the action?
