Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Nazi skinheads in Melbourne take out their anger on local Vietnamese, who are seen as threatening racial purity. Finally the Vietnamese have had enough and confront the skinheads in an all-out confrontation, sending the skinheads running. A woman who is prone to epileptic seizures joins the skins' merry band, and helps them on their run from justice, but is her affliction also a sign of impurity?
Romper Stomper is a raw, confrontational Australian film that launched Russell Crowe to international attention with a ferociously committed performance as skinhead leader Hando. The film's novelty is high — it takes an unflinching, almost anthropological look at neo-Nazi subculture in Melbourne without offering easy moral redemption, a bold and distinctive choice for its era. Crowe and Jacqueline McKenzie deliver genuinely powerful performances that elevate the material. The cinematography has an urgent, handheld docudrama quality that suits the subject but isn't especially distinguished. The plot is serviceable — essentially a rise-and-fall structure — but the character dynamics and Gabrielle's (McKenzie) ambiguous role add complexity. The ending, however, deflates somewhat, resolving in a rushed and somewhat melodramatic fashion that undercuts the film's harder edges and doesn't fully pay off the tension built throughout.