Bra Boys Film Review

“Bra Boys is a film which documents Maroubra’s surfing tribe and the incessant adversities they face. The documentary converts the notorious and infamous gang into a tribe of inseparable brothers.”
Bra Boys is a stimulating and absorbing documentary of the Bra Boys’ history of adversity, violence and community. Released on 15th March, 2007, with a remastered DVD version released on 1st of March, 2011, this influential text highlights the bonds of loyalty formed within the localised surfing community of Maroubra. In particular, the documentary focuses on the four Abberton brothers Sunny, Jai, Koby and Dakota (Dakota is only briefly included) as they struggle with the predicament and oppressions that are brought onto the tribe. Maroubra, represented as the poverty stricken, rundown beach town is the central setting of this documentary. The surf has been the Bra Boys’ saviour from their childhood community of “domestic violence, parental neglect and drugs”.
The Bra Boys are seen throughout Australia as an infamous surfing ‘gang’, notorious for the abundance of violence they present. Director Sunny Abberton, along with co-director Macario De Souza try to change that prejudiced view through the biased, yet effective depiction of the Bra Boys as a tight and loyal family of larrikins, victimised by the authorities and their society. The film consistently draws the viewer emotionally in to look upon the tribe with empathy and a sense of acquaintanceship.   Bra Boys’ success comes from its fast editing of scenes showing spectacular surfing, stimulating gang violence and poignant scenes of the community’s struggles and losses.  
Members of the Bra Boys are seen to follow a certain code of loyalty, honesty, and courage. This code is best captured during the time when a Bra Boy member was recounting his wounds from a firearm, and refuses to tell the police who had shot him. When Koby states, “there’s a responsibility with the brotherhood. You drop everything and turn up,...