Chopper (2000)

3.5 out of 4

Starring: Eric Bana, Vince Colosimo, Simon Lyndon, Bill Young, Kate Beahan, Renee Brack

Director: Andrew Dominik

Time: 94 mins

Chopper is a film detailing several momentous events in the life of notorious Australian criminal, and best-selling author, Mark Brandon "Chopper" Read. Though I didn't know much about the man, save for a well-publicised appearance on comedian Elle McFeast's variety talk show, the film gives some good insight into what makes him tick. Many scenes ripple with breathless tension and shocking violence, much in the same way Pulp Fiction and Goodfellas made you gasp with their almost wanton, nonchalant bloodletting. Coupled with a superlative performance by Eric Bana and some elegant, stylistic direction by Andrew Dominik, Chopper is one of the best Australian films in the past few years. The only thing holding it back is a lack of throttle during some pivotal scenes, and a sense that Chopper is having you on, so jovial is he throughout the picture. There is also a fairly abrupt ending, but being based on a true story, I suppose there's not much more the filmmakers could have added without turning the film into fiction.

Chopper Read was and still is a larger-than-life figure, who has been in and out of prison for most of his life. Boasting of having murdered many people, but only charged (and subsequently acquitted) for one, one must decide whether his shenanigans are just a publicity stunt or a real cry for attention. Even the film has a disclaimer at the start stating that it's not a biography, though it was based on his books. Several sequences are shown twice, or even three times, from differing viewpoints, as if to relay what actually happened as well as what was thought to have happened. There is even a dazzling recreation of a murder through the mouths of the people involved, reciting the rhyming stanzas of a poem. It is inventiveness like this that makes Chopper stand out from many recent Australian films, which have usually tried so hard to distinguish themselves from US product that they become too arty for their own good.

Though episodic, Chopper details many of the main events in Chopper Read's life and times. There is an initial sequence in a jail, where we learn of a double-cross by one of Chopper's trusted friends, Jimmy Loughnan (Simon Lyndon). Then we follow his life after being released, eavesdropping on domestic squabbles with girlfriend Tanya (Kate Leahan), clandestine meetings with a couple of policemen, and tense encounters with drug dealer Neville Bartos (Vince Colosimo), Jimmy Loughnan again, and Sammy the Turk (Serge Liistro). The narrative does jump around quite a bit, which lends a bit of a detached feel to the on-screen action, but, livened as it is by tension-busting bursts of humour, is never too serious or gloomy. The laughs come not only from Chopper's lines, but his own reactions to his many acts of violence.

Though starring some recognisable Australian actors, the film really belongs to Bana. A former sketch comedian on TV's Full Frontal, Bana literally becomes Mark "Chopper" Read. His characterisation is so good that one forgets who he is. It's a pity his performance probably won't be recognised outside of Australia, short of some US company picking it up for distribution. As an aside, the rough Australian vernacular employed in the film is perfectly realised, and so flowing and natural one doesn't question who is talking or what is being said.

Australian films, save for some notable successes such as Shine, have tended to emphasise the quirky and weird aspects of the Australian way of life and its people. It's as if this will make them less American in style and content. Some of the better films in the last decade or two, such as Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, Strictly Ballroom, Muriel's Wedding, and The Big Steal, have included such oddball, quirky characters. Andrew Dominik's Chopper doesn't have need for such weirdness; its title character is fascinating enough to carry the film. It is recommended for those who liked Pulp Fiction or Goodfellas.

(c) Joe Wong (8 August 2000)