Delayed Reaction: Romper Stomper

Premise: Australian Neo-Nazis run into trouble with the law.

 

Here’s the thing about Neo-Nazis: I don’t need more of them. I’ve seen enough depictions of them. I’m not going to go out of my way to see more stories about them. Add in Australia though, and you have my curiosity. It shouldn’t. Australia is an English-speaking nation with a lot of the same pop culture as the U.S. We share celebrities. They do feel more foreign than England though. Whenever I hear about something in Australia, my instinctive thought is “Oh, they have that there too?” even though I know they do. That’s some of the fun of Australian Westerns or Australian horror. They obviously would have those, but I think of them from such an American perspective that I get myopic. The same goes with Neo-Nazis, I guess. Obviously they’d have them in Australia. They just target their rage at slightly different people. Instead of black people, it’s Vietnamese and the Aboriginals. It’s always interesting to me to see regionalized hate. There’s a history to it; often dark. But it’s also interesting to track the weird melting pot of the world. Like, why does Long Beach, California have the largest Cambodian population outside of Cambodia? There’s a story there.

 

Anyway, the reason to watch this is the star making turn for Russell Crowe. This is the movie that got him the attention of filmmakers and studios stateside. He’s very good in this in a way where I’m surprised he didn’t spend the next few years shaking villain roles.

 

I also made a discovery that I always kind of assumed. I kind of liked the music. This isn’t a huge surprised. I’m very into Celtic rock. I’ve noticed that Celtic Rock can bleed into Punk Rock which can bleed into Oi! if you aren’t careful. For those who don’t know, Oi! is pretty much skinhead punk. Or, at least, it’s a type of punk that has become associated with skinheads. That’s what a lot of the music in Romper Stomper is. It’s a troubling music genre to get into because one day, you’re enjoying some Dropkick Murphys which maybe leads you to The Business, and eventually you have to start being vigilant for lyrics rhyming “master race” with “in your face”. All this isn’t to say I’m going to pick up the Romper Stomper soundtrack, but it does mean I’m going to read through the lyrics of my favorite Real McKenzies album just to be sure I didn’t miss some messaging that I don’t cosign.

 

Anyway, Romper Stomper: good for the Russell Crowe. Good for the brutality. Not great if you are looking to avoid racism.

 

Verdict: Weakly Recommend