Customer Reviews

Blackrock

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This was a very good movie, however the reviews here are extremely misleading! This is not a Heath Ledger film, he shows up for maybe five minutes. I think it is more important however to let people know that this movie deals with very serious issues...it is not a piece of fluff. For those who are squirmish be forewarned, there is a scene of a gang rape that is very disturbing.

This mvoie is based on the true story of the murder of a young woman. The murder rocked Newcastle and if I remember correctly, some parents of one of the children involved tried to have it baned. Yes it is harsh and confronting, more so because it is true and shows human nature at its worst. Not a movie to watch if you need cheering up.

Steve Vilder's controversial "Blackrock" is a disturbing Australian film which forces you to reach deep inside yourself and begins to make you question your own morals.

What would you do if you witnessed some of your friends committing an horrendous crime? What would you do if you saw a friend being raped? Would you keep silent and pretend it never happened? or would you go to the police?

These are the questions faced by the protagonist Jared, played by the talented and honest Laurence Breuls.

This critically aclaimed Australian drama lays focus on not only Jared's reactions and feelings about the crime but also on the friends and family of who this tragedy has destroyed their lives. This movie details how each friend comes to grips with this tragic and real crime that has been prevalent in our society for a long time.

Blackrock confront's powerful issues such as rape, guilt, family and peer pressures and trust/mis-trust with such realism, that it begins to take on the feel of a real-life documentary on the truama that these young adults are living through.

If you get the opportunity to view this film, please dont deny yourself. The script is powerful and focused and extremely well paced. The actors perform their roles exceptionally well, and deliver their lines with an unflinching raw intesity.

An Australian film which is most-worthy of adding to your movie collection.

This film is based on the real life sadistic rape and torture of a school girl Leigh Leigh, in the Newcastle region of New South Wales.

What I found remarkably hard to understand about this (perhaps it's just me) is the 'dilemma' faced by one of the lead characters.

He and his mates are out having a party. He witnesses the rape and the killing and yet he has a 'dilemma' about reporting it because he's good mates with the perpertrator. For me there's no issue whatsoever, the brutality of the crime could not be convered up, so I had enormous difficulty understanding the motives of the central character of this film

The earlier reviewer is correct in his assessment of the crime this movie is based on being without any justification at all; however, the movie itself is well acted and well directed, very sad and admittedly depressing take on "group"- or "mob"-based teenage crime. The old adage of 1 boy having a brain, 2 boys having 1/2 brain and 3 or more having no brain at all is clearly at hand. The void that exists with a lack of responsible and/or positive leadership is filled with negative self-appointed role models. All that and Heath Ledger debuting in a role reminiscent of Matt Dillon's own in 1979.

Based loosely on the rape and murder of Leigh Leigh in a small town outside Newcastle in Australia, Blackrock is extremely confronting. It is not a vehicle for stars but for a message. Laurence Breuls in the leading role of Jared is perfect- a mixture of vulnerability and misplaced mateship. As a member of a powerful Australian subculture, his performance articulates the compulsion of mates and surf and the consequent marginalisation of all who don't, (surf, that is). Simon Lyndon puts in a powerful performance as Ricko, the Australian Dream gone bad.
Blackrock is about many things. What it has almost nothing to do with is Heath Ledger. It was made to help adolescents understand that rape is always a crime and that mates aren't "all you've got ".

This movie is not for the lite hearted. I can deal with a lot, but watching this movie... I had to stop part way through to get my bounds. For all those people who say Heath Ledger is a God, I don't really see it in this movie. He's a great actor but when you see anybody, famous or not, gang raping a girl it's very disturbing. The flash backs of the rape just add to the movie. How you enterpret this movie will decide how you feel about the ending. This is a sad movie to watch. Especially since this stuff actually happeneds. It's a great movie, the way it was constructed. Definatly a movie to watch, if you are not lite at heart on the subject.

Blackrock IS a movie about rape and loyalty to one's mates vs telling the truth, but it treats the topic deftly, not justifying the events, but showing why they occured and the effect they have on the community. It is very disturbing, especially the rape scene, but its message is NOT "rape is okay" or anything remotely close to that. The reprehensibility of the rape/murder and of not doing/saying anything is clearly shown, and the realistic depictions of the characters help to explain how and why events happened as they did. Truth be told, most criminals are described afterwards as "the nicest person, last one you'd expect to do that". The storyline can be a little confusing, though this is most likely due to the re-editing of the film prior to (or poss. after) Sundance, which took out some of the intro which explained some of the dynamics between the teens. Laurence Breuls does an especially fantastic job as Jared. The scariest thing about the film is that I can actually see it happening in real life.

Blackrock was an excelent film it was a touching movie with out beening soppy. it is a powerful film which relates to a teenagers life and choices. the every day choices a teenager has to make, with every action there is a reaction. with every risk there can also come consercenses. this is clearly demintrates in one of the actors Laurence Breuls who played Jared, first demonstration was when jared surfed on the bonnet of a car while it drives around out on control with only a peice of rope to hold on to, that could of had consercenses. Secondly jared watching his mates rape a girl if he had acted, they might have reacted by running away. there are many meanings in this movie that are clearly shown i recommened that teenages watch this movie, even though it is not a new age movie it really makes you question your own morals.

I have watched Blackrock several times and consider it a very powerful film, which would be particularly good to use in high schools. ... I feel that over the course of the film Ricko's image as the "legend" and good guy is effectively torn away and he is revealed as being seriously warped morally. I found the scene where Ricko confesses his "reasons" for killing Tracy to be one of the most horrifying in the film, partly because it rang so true. People will use the most pathetic excuses to justify the crime of rape,and I feel the movie showed well the utter emptiness of these justifications. The movie also does not excuse Jared for his inaction in regards to the rape - but allows him the possibility to accept his guilt and try and make amends in whatever way he can. All the actors played their parts very well and came across as believable. As the central figure of Jared, Laurence Breuls was very convincing, showing his character's decline from fun-loving, fairly self-centred surfer boy to confused and guilt-stricken, his world tipped up around him. The extreme insensitivity Jared shows at several points in the movie makes his character not entirely sympathetic, but is necessary to show his uncertainty about where his loyalty should lie. Jared is no hero, he is basically a weak character, possessing a conscience but not the moral strength to act on it. He isn't meant to be a hero though, he's meant to be real, and the film shows his desire to do the right thing after Tracy's death, but confusion about what the right thing is. I think that an important theme of this film is how the culture in which people live can act on them to compromise their conscience in this way.