'Romper Stomper' shows an younger violent, ignorant Russell Crowe

Harold John Behling

After his latest nomination for best actor in a motion picture, I found myself interested again in Russell Crowe. I'll shamefully admit that I haven't yet been able to catch his performance in "A Beautiful Mind," but from what I've seen of Crowe, however, I've always been skeptical about his worth as an actor.

While digging through the Internet Movie Database, I found 1992's "Romper Stomper," a tale of viscous skinheads fighting their race war against the Vietnamese population of Melbourne, Australia.

Crowe plays Hando, the leader of the pissed off street gang that lives in an abandoned auto garage and spends their days drinking, listening to white supremacy music and beating each other up. The only clear objective the skinheads have is a crusade against the rising Vietnamese community.

But unlike similar films such as "American History X," white supremacy isn't the main focus of this film.

Although the film introduces its rowdy bunch in a scene of race inspired violence, the focus shifts, turning it into more of a story about teenage angst and blind hatred as the group falls apart under the stress of poverty and internal struggles.

Strangely, "Romper Stomper" seems to follow more in the theme of Stanley Kubrick's "Clockwork Orange" with a couple of startling similarities.

During one scene, Crowe wears white pants and suspenders similar to those worn by Alex and his droogs. There is also a scene that is remarkably similar to the house robbery in Kubrick's classic.

Crowe portrays his character as imposing and violent, yet cold and contemplating. For most of the movie he plays this perfectly, appearing at the head of his gang in a trench coat with a blank look on his face and a length of chain held between his hands.

At times he, though, becomes annoying, betraying his seemingly controlled and disciplined composure to look like one of his thoughtless henchmen, fixed with a maniacal look of bloodlust that would be better off on the face of a crazed killer in some slasher movie.

However supporting roles played by Daniel Pollock (as Davie, the quiet best friend of Hando) and Jacqueline McKenzie (as Gabe, the spacey girl who tags along with the misfits) are very well done. Pollock is thoughtful and repressed, but easily as viscous as the others. McKenzie seems to be able to ignore the senseless acts of violence and falls into a love triangle with Hando and Davie.

"Romper Stomper" is not exactly what it appears to be. Although it is full of racial violence, it ends up being more about ignorant, hateful people who can't get by in society. By making that switch, the message of the film becomes somewhat unclear. You can assume that it's a statement about the dangers of hatred and racial prejudice, but it leaves it to the audience to decide whether or not they would still be violent losers even without their skinhead beliefs.

Over all, "Romper Stomper" is interesting, well acted and frequently disturbing. Just don't expect too much insight into the mind of a dedicated skinhead.

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