Bra Boys (2007)

People are voting emotionally.

Absolutely the worst movie.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I absolutely loved this documentary, it shows the guys for who they are and where they came from. The passion they have for surfing and the people they care for is unbelievable especially when you listen to the lives they have all had. I'd never heard about the Bra Boys until I was on holiday last year, my sister and I had undertaken surf lessons from a guy a couple of years previously. We asked what happened to him and were told he was promoting a documentary about the community he grew up in, it was then I found out Sunny Abberton taught me to surf!! After being in Sydney last July I decided to take a visit down to Maroubra, I wasn't there long, but just knowing I was in the place that Sunny had learnt to surf made me want to surf again even more, unfortunately where i live thats not always possible.But this documentary was definitely worth the time it took trying to find a place that sold it! (even the amount I had to pay for it)

Bra Boys Review.Bra boys is an interesting one sided documentary about a group of surfers in Australia and a story into their lifestyle. Bra boys is based in Maroubra, Sydney, NSW, on the 2nd most popular beach in Australia.The documentary is made and directed by Bra Boys, Sunny Abberton and features many gang members and pro-surfers. It shows the early life of the four Abberton brothers: Sunny, Jai, Koby and youngest brother Dakota. We see their unsuitable upbringing and lives as children and why they turned all their attention to the ocean and surfing. The Bra Boys have very little trust and respect for police officials and try to protect their gang from outsiders. We can see that the documentary is from the Bra Boys point of view as it does not shows information from anyone else besides the Bra Boys and the Bra Boys friends. Bra Boys have one main woman in their documentary and it happens to be their grandmother Mavis. Mavis took care of the brothers and most of their friends when the Abberton brother's mother, Lynn was struggling with heroin addiction and had an abusive partner who once hit Koby. At Mavis' house is where the whole gang ideas started, the first gang was called ma's hell gang.The documentary is mostly about the brothers and what they have been through. One of the most biggest and interesting event is the murder of Anthony Hines who was shot by Jai Abberton. Jai claims he shot Hines for self defence reasons, it was said that Hines had been after Jai Abberton after he suspected him of sleeping with his girlfriend. Although we don't get very much information on this event it is still the biggest as both brothers Jai and Koby are looking at serving jail time. Jai got 20 months in prison but then was found not guilty; we still don't receive any more information on the incident with Jai saying "I have only had to tell the jury what happened that night". Another incident that happened was on 22nd of December 2002 when the Bra Boys had a party for pro-surfer Mark Mathews 21st.The party consisted of 200 drunken men who got into fights with off-duty police officers who were celebrating a Christmas party one floor below them. That night only Bra Boys were arrested and all the police who were involved got off, this actually shows that the Bra Boy's got treated differently for something they may not have started, its no wonder they distrust the police.Most of the time the Bra Boy's are just trying to have fun. They stick to the beaches and surf but sometimes like to set their friends on fire and jump into water from cliffs. Some critics have disapproved of this but I think it's their lives they can do what they want so therefore should be left alone. We do see some fights that occur during the documentary but only the surfers against other surfers. We can determine who belongs to the Bra Boy's gang as most of them have 'Bra Boy's tattooed on them but in Koby's case he has 'My brothers keeper'.Bra Boy's has a very Australian feel about it, this may be because the narrator is no other then Russell Crowe. The documentary also contains mostly Australian songs some by Parkway Drive which gives it a very Australian feel. We also receive some history on when the first fleet arrived in Australia and the controversy between them and the Aboriginals. I think it was a wise idea to include some history of the place where it was filmed because it could show why the Abbertons are the people they are today.Also in the documentary it features the Cronulla Riots, and it shows how the Bra Boy's were involved. Most people thought that the Bra Boy's were probably one of the main causes but in fact they were the ones who were trying to make peace. People may have thought this because the Bra Boy's, when they first heard people were heading their way grabbed baseball bats and other weapons and went straight to the beach. They were only trying to protect their beach from getting destroyed. Bra Boy's also said that it wasn't all the Lebanese who were fighting, most of the people protecting the beach were multi cultural, Koby said some couldn't even speak English but was standing and fighting for Australia.At the end of the film it shows people from Maroubra telling people what nationality they are, this is a way of showing that it doesn't matter if your not full Australian or born in Australia you are still apart of it. Bra Boy's must think this is important because they wouldn't have shown it otherwise.The documentary Bra Boys is a very interesting point of view. I would watch it again and recommend it to people who are interested in surfing and the Abberton brothers. I don't think the Abberton brothers made this documentary to promote themselves or to make themselves famous, they just want to tell their side of the story. It shows their point of view and not just the media's. it is a very good film.Internet movie database Nikila GYC

Bra boys is a suggestive documentary about the surfing lifestyle in Australia. It shows aspects of the lifestyle outside of the surfing itself, including things like drinking, violence, friendship, family, murder and the involvement of the police and the law. It shows all of these things and the impacts that they have had on their lives.The documentary was directed by two members of surf gang ‘the Bra Boys’, Sonny Abberton and Macario de Souza. Because of this it shows their views on everything and their opinions of things. While this can appear to be a biased representation of events, they did direct the documentary so of course it is going to sway to being a bit biased. Because the Bra Boys are just assumed to be the bad guys by the media and police they want to defend themselves and their reputations. I think that is a fair representation and why wouldn’t they want to show themselves in a positive way.The Bra Boys are made up of male surfers that live in or around Maroubra Beach in New South Wales, Australia. They have all come from somewhat troubled backgrounds and didn’t really have great family lives when they were growing up so they have had to turn to each other. They come from a poor suburb and are all from working class families. They are all involved with the surf culture and lifestyle and have formed a tight brotherhood. They all have a lot of similarities so this is probably why they have bonded in the way that they have.The main people appearing in the documentary are the Abberton brothers. The Abberton brothers are Sunny, Jai, Koby and Dakota. They all share the same mother but only two of them have the same dad. Their mother was a heroin addict so she wasn’t really there to support them and so they just took care of each other throughout the years. The Abberton brothers and their friends from the area used to hang out at their Grandma, Mavis’, house. Her house was close to the beach so it was somewhere for them to hang out and from here they formed the Bra Boys.The documentary is narrated by Russell Crowe so from the start it gives it a kind of Australian feel. A lot of this documentary is all about Australian culture and a lot of Australians could relate to it. With things like them being against the police, larrikin characters, strong manly representation of men this can be associated as part of Australian culture.And so the documentary shows these troubled kids trying to do good for themselves and them just having fun and surfing all day. Everything is great for them until the Bra Boys have a run in with the police. It is one of the Bra Boy’s, Mark Mathews, birthday and they are celebrating with 200 of his friends at the Coogee RSL and the local police are having a Christmas party one floor above them. A fight breaks out between the two parties and 8 Bra Boys are arrested while no police officers are charged. From this event the police and the Bra Boys have clashed with the police thinking that the Bra Boys are a bunch of criminals. This part of the documentary they show the two sides of the story so it’s not really fair to say the whole film in biased.One of the main parts of the movie is when Jai Abberton is charged with murdering Anthony Hines. Anthony Hines had been to jail before and always in trouble with the police and was a friend of Jai’s. Jai supposedly shot Anthony Hines in self-defence and dumped his body of the side of a cliff into the water. Jai’s brother Koby was also charged for lying to the police and attempting to pervert the course of justice. Firstly Koby then later Jai were released with all charges dropped. Jai spent 10 months in prison though before the trial happened.Perhaps one of the positive things that the Bra Boys do in the film in when they apologise to the Lebanese community when the riots where happening in Cronulla, New South Wales. They are showing that they had no part in the riots and are very accepting of other cultures. I think that while this could be genuine and what they are really like it could have also just been to make themselves look better in front of the public.I don’t think that this documentary was at all a way to promote themselves because they started filming the documentary before a lot of these events happened. I think that maybe by making this documentary there names would become more well known but I don’t think it was the sole reason for making it. Overall I enjoyed the documentary as it was enjoyable for a documentary which I don’t usually find too interesting.Candice, GYC

The Bra BoysDirectors: Sunny Abberton, Macario De Souza Writer: Sunny Abberton Producers: Sunny Abberton, Michael Lawrence Executive producers: Jason Bergh, Sal Masakela, Michael Lythcott, Nicholas Cook, Michael Lawrence, John Mossop Directors of photography: Macario De Souza, Brook Silvester Music: Jamie Holt Narrator: Russell CroweBra boys is a personal documentary on the Australian surfing group called Bra boys who are centered in the Sydney Suburb called Maroubra, also Narrated by Russel Crowe. It is mostly revolved around the Abberton brothers Sunny, Koby, Jai Abberton and Dakota. The four brothers share three different fathers with a mother as a heroin addict and a boyfriend who is a thief. Even though they don't have a strong mother or father figure they have there grandmother Mavis "Ma" Abberton who they all adore. Her home is one block from the beach and isn't just welcome to her grandsons also to there friends.It's a very one eyed view documentary directed by Macario De Souza and one of the Abberton brothers Sunny. You get to see there side of the story not just the medias. Maroubra is a suburb that happens to be a breeding ground for expert pro-surfers, many of them are from public housing and broken families. Bra boy shows an interesting overview of the historical clash between surfers and authorities and also the Abberton brothers dealing with maybe losing two brothers to jail. The bra boys call themselves a tribe while the media call them a "gang". You can understand while the media would recall them gang, by all the trouble they course like example one of the bra boys was having a 21st party while the police where having a Christmas party in the same place but upstairs. When they clashed it turned into a big brawl with 44 policemen getting injured and 8 bra boys getting arrested by the police. The bra boys only show there side of the story to this but this wouldn't be the only drunken brawl they would've have. You see how Jai and Koby both almost end up in jail and what they go through before they find out there sentence, an also relief they feel when they don't have to live a sentence in jail. By there sense of relief they go and surf they biggest waves they have in there life and realise to live life to the fullest and not to take life for granted. By watching this movie even though it is very biased you see how there not just really a "gang". They are also a group of great friends who would do anything for each other. It is even touching to see how much they all adore and love there grandmother ma. It might not be a high budget film but you get to see there side to there story and how they live there lives. The Abberton brothers didn't have much at all while being brought up but they have made there own success and money especially Koby who is now one of the biggest big wave surfers in the world. I recommend people to watch this movie because it can make you think differently of the bra boys and see how there not just a gang there a brotherhood.Liv GYC