Trump a sign of despair in a very powerful nation: Romper Stomper director
Wright s conviction about bringing alive a "Romper Stomper" mini-series 25 years after the cult film on racism stormed its way across Australian cinema screens strengthened he says with Trump s political ascent.
"Trump is a sign of despair in a very powerful nation. It s difficult to admire someone like Trump it s not possible for me " Wright told IANS in an interview here as he agreed that when Trump emerged as US President he wanted to revisit the Russell Crowe-starrer "Romper Stomper" all the more.
"This is a sign of a country that is experimenting in an unfortunate way and I hope they come back on track. You re not going to have a brilliant President every time India or Australia but you don t want such a drastic dire kind of experiment. You want something that is a bit more optimistic."
While not wanting to "demonise" Trump Wright explained: "It s not as simple as that because it represents a block of the public that voted for him and they have got their issues with how things have panned out for them. There are parts (of the US) where there s too much unemployment " he said.
"The people who were empowered before Trump possibly overlooked them and the country has paid a price the world has paid a price because of a group of people " he added.
As a film the high-on-violence "Romper Stomper" followed a neo-Nazi group which spent their time attacking Asian immigrants in suburban Melbourne. In its mini-series avatar which came out earlier this year anti-Muslim immigration came in focus.
"It s strange that I could take a story that is 25 years old and bring it back into focus because unfortunately the issues haven t gone away. The perpetrators faces and the actors involved in the story... changed but the fundamentals don t. And in the last few years the whole planet has had a bit of a confrontation with coping with the clash of civilisations.
"I think we are out of the worst of it but it got scary for a while... But I don t want to speak... because who knows what atrocity could be what could happen in terms of global affairs clash of nations armies " said Wright on the sidelines of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) where he was part of the jury.
Having watched a variety of Indian films via the gala Wright was particularly impressed by Tabrez Noorani s treatment of sex trafficking in "Love Sonia".
Raising issues through the medium of cinema is a culture that must be promoted the world over especially on issues pertaining to the socio-political milieu of a nation he says.
"It s really important because governments have their limitations but individuals don t. And individuals make up the film industry. And the film industry is all over the world. Every country has one -- a tiny one a major one or something in between.
"But every country has something and it s made up of individuals who can make a difference and be passionate about telling a true story or something that reflects the truth. I am not talking about documentaries but those based on the truth or something they have observed " said the silver-haired filmmaker whose "Romper Stomper" script was inspired by the crimes of leading Melbourne Neo-Nazi skinhead Dane Sweetman.
"Governments can only go so far individuals are limitless " Wright added.
And what about the censorship that can come along with political movies at least in the Indian context?
"You ve got to keep pushing. You might take the ground by only a few centimetres first but on other days you will take it by metres and there will be a day when you will take it by kilometres. But you will take ground every day you push... Five years from now 10 years from now when you look back you ll say you ve come a distance " he says.
"You re not going to win every battle. No one does. But you ve got to try and win as often as you can " he adds.
(Radhika Bhirani was in Melbourne on an invitation by IFFM organisers. She can be contacted at radhika.b@ians.in)
--IANS rb/sug/hs
