What would you do if you witnessed some of your friends committing a terrible crime? What would you do if you saw a friend of yours being gang raped? Would you have sat there and watched?. Horrified but able to do nothing. Or would you have helped? This is the dilemma faced by Jared played by Laurence Breuls. This gritty Australian drama explores not only Jared's reactions and feelings about this crime but all of the victim's friends feelings as well. Jared is shattered by the fact that he did not help his friend Leigh when she needed him and even more horrified to find out that his best mate Ricko finished off the job - raping Leigh yet again and then killing her. This movie details how each friend came to grips with this tragic but too often everyday crime.
Add a Review
-
Rito22 November 1998
-
jon00135 November 2008Black rock is a very dramatic movie, and therefore would come under the Genre Drama. The movie is set in Black Rock at the beach. Some of the main features of the movie, are: Truth, conflict, hatred, loyalty, fear, moral conflict, adolescence and man hood, tragedy, responsibility, community and most importantly, consent.
Jared is a 17 year old boy who has had a lot on his mind lately, what would you do if you saw something you knew that you could easily stop? In Jared's case, he sat there and observed the dreadful incident, he didn't say a word. Before this incident Jared used to be a typical 17 year old boy who surfed, slept-in and hung out with his friends, now he can't escape his thoughts.
I won't spoil the plot, but this is a film that you must see, at the right moments it was very intense, this film shows you that you must be truthful, or the truth will haunt you forever. -
jldowsing16 December 2022The creators of this feature chose to slide down a slippery slope where elements were cherry picked from a well known tragedy (they went to some lengths to reinforce the connection), yet a number of key facts were reimagined so the film could see the light of day. So the disclaimer that any resemblance to real life events was merely coincidence is an outright lie.
What we have is a watchable screenplay that would otherwise serve as a passable exploration of morality, teenage angst, peer pressure, mateship and misogyny.
Had the movie delved more into the police incompetence, failure to arrest perpetrators of gang rape and the real extent to which the victim's reputation was falsified and trashed, therein lies a far more powerful narrative.
And on reflection, the extended surfing sequences go to a film that never quite knew what it wanted to be. It was an opportunity lost to produce something that would have been ahead of its time and warranted more serious reflection. -
I am so glad that I am not the girl who was called "Cherie" in the movie as the above comments on "how it is supposed to make us think" etc, is irrelevant. She was Tracey Warners (Leigh Lee's) best friend and suffered along with the rest of the innocents portrayed in Blackrock. I lived 5 minutes away from Stockton (which is the "mythical" town in which Blackrock is set), and I remember this murder happening at the time. It is unfair to judge this movie on "the ideals" we were meant to gain from watching it as it was a factual encounter. It is too bad if you don't "get" this film, as it is not meant to be "got". It happened. As for the characters not evolving - well, you will have to take that up with the people on who they were depicting. I am sure that they are sorry that their everyday lives do not summarise the lives YOU think they should have led.
-
At first I couldn't understand why this film had been made. Its shallow characters are indifferently acted. It's often dull and nothing about the production is better than competent. It's easy to shock people by including graphic representations of gang-rape (and with these often repeating in flashback, it's hard to avoid a suspicion of intent to titillate) but the main character is an uninteresting, negative, passive, borderline sociopath, and even the victim is unsympathetically drawn.
From other reviews I learned this was based on a real incident from 1989, so I read the Wikipedia article (entitled Murder of Leigh Leigh) which has lots of detail. It turns out that, apart from a murder taking place in that location, the film has little to do with those actual events. In particular the victim (actually a 14 year old virgin attending her first party) is misrepresented as promiscuous, and the vileness and premeditation of the boys' behaviour greatly understated. Their party-talk would have related more to getting underage girls drunk so they could rape them. In the real incident the only two over-18 men present (employed as bouncers) stated their intention to rape particular children, including Leigh. This film contributes to the horrendous culture of assigning blame to innocent victims. In its obsession with its dull and entirely fictitious main character, it ignores the serious issues raised, which occupied Australian courts and legislatures for years thereafter.
Please don't watch this horrible misrepresentation until you've read that Wikipedia article - it isn't easy to read but it has a lot more to say than this movie does. A quote from there: 'because the film lacked the "poignant and powerful narrative support of Leigh's tragedy", it was deemed by critics to be "shallow and clichéd"'. Add misguided and irresponsible and that about sums up this worthless pile of you-know-what. -
thirteenthfloorelevator20 February 2006The point of this film is that rape is bad. Nothing more, nothing less. The filmmakers have their heads in the clouds, making this film so self-important and self-righteous, thinking it will set the world on fire with its important groundbreaking never seen before theme. The characters repeat stock lines at regular intervals (I didn't do Anything... I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING) with such obvious force that it appears this film was made to be studied by Year 12 English students. The characterisation in awful and the characters spend half the film standing around doing nothing, hoping the important message this film is trying to send out will carry them. It doesn't. This film could have been better in the hands of a more competent director and not merely some low budget actor trying to make a name for himself behind the scenes. This film is now being marketed on DVD as "Heath Ledger's first film" which is the only way they could sell it. A shame because it had real potential. What a waste.
-
wiggle-24 December 2000The subject matter is completely galling, that of a mass rape and subsequent murder of a teenage girl. This movie's strength however should not be underestimated. It doesn't really attempt to moralise or provide answers, it simply examines the interactions of the teenagers affected by the tragedy. Great acting from a young cast, I have to disagree with dita-3 suggesting that the characters don't develop. The main problem that today's youth faces worldwide is the fact that they are increasingly apathetic and lack true ambition. This movie sets out to make you think, and is overlaid with a churning grungey soundtrack throbbing it's way through. A lovely poignant moment with the Cranberries "No Need To Argue" playing, but the film never dips into sentimentality. Hollywood would have liked to pour a healthy dose of treacle over the ending, thank goodness they never had the chance to do so. I cannot recommended this film highly enough
-
flatcoke329 August 2005I was an extra in this movie and being a local and having friends living in the area where it happened i had high hopes . The day or so i was on set was fun and the cast seemed pretty down to earth , plenty of sun and some waves at the beach .
After the long wait for it to be in the cinemas and getting my friends to go , i wanted to crawl out of there after 5 minutes , i felt way too old(was 23). In retrospect i should have asked for my money back but i think i was in shock . Instead of a real life event that effected many peoples lives it looked trivialised on screen .
Anybody remember a series called heartbreak high well that was better ! -
ulysses1016 November 2005Blackrock should go down as one of the best Aussie films around. I remember when it came out in 97' n' i thought it was the coolest movie, n' disturbing . I saw the play in High school at the Bogga Road Jail in 98'too.
The acting is great from all the cast, especially Simon Lyndon, one of his best performances and the filming is shot so well. I listen to the soundtrack all the time, its awesome. Songs from The Cruel Sea, Sidewinder, Rebeca's Empire, Beast of Burben and The Cranberry's, they set the time and place.
This film would get pretty disturbing for some viewer's but stuff like this does happen. But i think it's a great film, go check it out!! David Field has a small roll in this but brilliant acting, if your an Aussie n' you have'nt seen it, GET IT NOW!!! 9/10 -
Worst movie ever, if you are roped into seeing this one try to fall a sleep within the first 5 minutes so that you wont have to endure the horrific plot and even poorer acting. The badly developed story makes the movie tedious to watch falling into the "I don't really care what happens in this movie as long as it ends" category. The makeup was really bad as well, actors looked mentally inadequate. This movie even makes "Soul Plane" look good.
Please don't watch this movie as it only encourages the sad sad people who make junk like this.
-Stu3 -
petershelleyau13 October 2002Director Steven Vidler's film of the Nick Enright play is emotionally weightless. Vidler seems so concerned to make it relevant to the teen generation it's about that he has made what reads as an extended music video complete with a loud soundtrack, an abundance of surfing footage, orange tinting and shorthand editing. It's shocking to see the indifference he applies to the character of the girl who is raped and murdered though this superficiality extends to all the characters.
The material originated as Property of the Clan for the stage but Enright reworked it for a larger theater company, doubling the cast and I feel losing the purity of his intention. This re-drafting is exemplified by creating a cancer crisis which really has no impact on the base story.
Enright's comment on male aggression which is meant to explain the violence is echoed in the protagonist Jared (Laurence Breals) delivering a climactic speech about `mates is all you got' though it rings false when he is shown to have an interest in photography and a girlfriend.
The actors have little to work with and Vidler winds them up to a level of hysteria so that the strine accents and performances by Simon Lyndon, Chris Haywood and David Field are simply ludicrous. Breals performance is all about his hair and Linda Cropper as his mother is stranded. Vidler thankfully deprives us of footage of the murder but repeats flashbacks of the rape as Jared's conscience, though his long range witnessing becomes closeup memory. -
dita-37 July 2000Blackrock was not a film I would recommend. All of the characters were extremely undeveloped. The plot seemed unfinished. This film had the potential to be a quite good movie, but seemed like it was unfinished. The character of Jared didn't have any motive for not saying anything about the rape. It was absolutely ridiculous, and an extremely unrealistic portrayal of Australian teenagers.
-
wpmarkey13 February 2015We were forced to watch this movie in English. I could not believe that I was forced to sit through this atrocity of a movie. I wish i could give it a 0/10 however IMDb does not allow me too. We were forced to watch this movie in English. I could not believe that I was forced to sit through this atrocity of a movie. I wish i could give it a 0/10 however IMDb does not allow me too.We were forced to watch this movie in English. I could not believe that I was forced to sit through this atrocity of a movie. I wish i could give it a 0/10 however IMDb does not allow me too.We were forced to watch this movie in English. I could not believe that I was forced to sit through this atrocity of a movie. I wish i could give it a 0/10 however IMDb does not allow me too.We were forced to watch this movie in English. I could not believe that I was forced to sit through this atrocity of a movie. I wish i could give it a 0/10 however IMDb does not allow me too.
-
yourstruly201031 October 2005I bought this film on DVD for 1 UK pound and have watched it over and over again a great story handled with care and told from no one in particulars point of view. OK so its not going to win any Oscars for having the biggest budget but i cant recommend this enough a truly under rated piece of Aussie cinema. If your looking for something different rent it or buy it i imagine you can pick it up cheap enough anywhere in the free world.
A lot of great photography and beautiful Australian scenery great direction great script.
also a ton of great music (austrailia and new Zealand have the best undiscovered bands music scenes and movies) -
ceefactor31 May 2006To be completely honest, the only reason i saw this movie was because in our English class we read the screenplay by Nick Enright. And that was it. I wouldn't have watched this movie otherwise.
Yes, this movie contained an almost-taboo subject that hasn't been seen all that often before. But that is the problem: The whole movie rotated around that one happening, this one occurrence.
And, 10 years later, we have become somewhat desensitized to those occurrences, making them not as shocking as they would have been say, 10 years ago.
If that doesn't collapse an already shaky plot, nothing will.
Put it simply, this movie was made to shock people. It was made to bring to light a subject that usually isn't discussed. But the problem, the hole in this plan, was that it didn't.
Another thing i noticed was that the acting was extremely rushed. The dialogue was rushed. The reactions and emotions were rushed. Some of the characters would scream and cry and shout insults at mere words that would only at most leave us frowning. What the director was trying to convey as hopelessness and devastation only came through as characters in need of intense anger management.
Another is that the characters themselves were not given anything to hold onto. If i hadn't read the original screenplay, half of these characters morals would be foreign to me. I had an advantage not many would have had before this by actually having an idea of what these people were like. But the thing is, that shouldn't happen. People shouldn't have to read the original works just to get a genuine idea of the movie.
There were also tiny sub-plots that i guess were added in for extra depth, but only ended up being completely unnecessary.
And, finally, the dialogue. Now, because this movie was set in Australia, and hey, i'm Australian too, i can spot when the slang is forced - a feat that appears in so many other Australian movies. And my gosh, it's forced in this movie. It is all too bush for a bunch of teenagers.
One of the only things i can commend the director on is keeping me somewhat entranced for the better part of the movie. I was interested in what was going to happen, but after the climax i felt it was a little stretched. the dark underlying themes - domestic violence, rape, suicide and relationship issues, kept that interest, as weird as it is to admit.
Also, the party scenes in particular were spot-on. The director conveyed the frenzy of teenage parties so accurately i found myself comparing them to some of the own i've been to. And the locations were decent too, and convinced me. I was also happy to see a few familiar faces - a cameo-like appearance from Health Ledger, Jade Gatt off of one of my old favourite cartoon TV shows and that guy off all saints whose name i can never remember.
For what it's worth, the movie does make you think. I know the rape scene haunted me for a little while even after the movie finished. It is also a fact that when our teacher shut it off in class we were more silent than we ever had been before.
Mostly if you just approach it with the fact it is only a movie you'll appreciate it in the slightest. -
haz56721 February 2008Black Rock is an excellent little known Australian film, with the fact that Heath Ledger has a very small role in it (his first) being one of the only things giving it any recognition today.
The plot is that of a more or less run of the mill drama, the story centered around a young girl who gets raped at a party which focuses on the repercussions that it strikes throughout the community. The story is simple, but the implications that extend beyond it because the way it is handled show that less can be more. Although some could see the film as a vehicle driven by shock value (there are thousands of other films esp. of the exploitation genre that feature "worse" depictions of rape), there is some incredible acting and a complex dramatic angle between characters at work here.
The real star of this film is its display of early 90's Australian surfer youth culture, this film screams bogan and for the many who grew up in the era its pure nostalgia. The Aussie grunge/rock soundtrack is superb, making you think of the years long past and really strikes a raw nerve. The Australian landscapes are nothing short of beautiful and make me proud the land is my home.
Black Rock is a great film, if you are looking to get into some great Australian movies you could do worse then starting here. -
partyonwayne11 September 2005This was one of the most powerful and heartbreaking films I have ever seen. I think it is just amazing, and it should definitely be seen by as many people as possible, especially young men and women, as it deals with important issues like the aftermath of a rape, murder, mate ship and the teenage culture of silence. The acting is superb, so much Aussie talent, and the characters are so convincing you can also spot most of your friends. Laurence Breuls is the standout actor (and not too hard on the eyes either). SEE IT! This was one of the most powerful and heartbreaking films I have ever seen. I think it is just amazing, and it should definitely be seen by as many people as possible, especially young men and women, as it deals with important issues like the aftermath of a rape, murder, mate ship and the teenage culture of silence. The acting is superb, so much Aussie talent, and the characters are so convincing you can also spot most of your friends. Laurence Breuls is the standout actor (and not too hard on the eyes either).
-
callan2812 January 2000Steve Vilder's controversial "Blackrock" is a disturbing film and one which is relevant and important to Australian society. As with basiclly all Australian film it is a movie by which it is easy for Australians to relate to. The character of Jared could easily be anyone of many surfers from the east coast of Australia, and the un-named town in which he lives in could easily be any industrial town along the shoreline. It confront's issues such as rape, death, guilt, family rivalry and trust/mis-trust with such a raw realism and intensity that the film almost looks and feels like a real life documentry at times. Blackrock is not afraid to delve into the depths of the Australian community and show it how it really is. Unlike "The Castle" or "Muriels Wedding" Blackrock gives us an honest portrayal of the darker side of our society.
It is what Australian film is all about. Quality Australian films aren't made with the box office or international sucess in mind. They're made to make us look at ourselves as a society and think. This is the reason why many Australian films don't usually do well in the U.S and overseas. They are made for us, not an international audience. It's a shame with such quality film's and film makers, our films can't get wider recognition amognst our own country, instead of most of the trash put out by Hollywood these days. -
lrn7910 May 2002Spoiler Alert This film is very well done. I would have liked to see the film leave the murder unresoved and showing the community closing up a bit more. From what I understand no real resolution came out of the true murder this film is based on. To see the killer take his own life and provide closure (if only for the audiences sake) seems a little to much like a "Hollywood ending". Other than that its a thought provoking and emotional film. The characters very believeable. The way they speak and even a "surfy" accent of sorts. Great perfomances by all.