Inclusive list of social realist Australasian films and films partly in social realist style

Angel Baby (Michael Rymer, 1995) mental illness

Australian Rules (Paul Goldman, 2002) racism

Beneath Clouds (Ivan Sen, 2002) racism

Between Wars (Michael Thornhill, 1974) PTSD

Black and White (Craig Lahiff, 2002) racism

Black Balloon, The (Elissa Down, 2008) autism

Blackfellas (James Ricketson, 1993) racism

Blood Money (Chris Fitchett, 1980)

Boys, The (Rowan Woods, 1997) crime (rape and murder)

Candy (Neil Armfield, 2006) drugs

Careful He Might Hear You (Carl Schultz, 1983) disputed custody

Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, The (Fred Schepisi, 1978) racism

Chopper (Andrew Dominik, 2000) crime

Combination, The (David Field, 2009) gangs

Cosi (Mark Joffe, 1996) mental illness

Dead Heart (Nick Parsons, 1996) racism

Deadly (Esben Storm, 1992) black deaths in custody

Delinquents, The (Chris Thomson, 1989) delinquency maybe

Every Night ... Every Night (Alkinos Tsilimidos, 1994) prison

FJ Holden, The (Michael Thornhill, 1977) delinquency

For the Term of his Natural Life (Norman Dawn, 1927) prison

Fortress (Steve Gordon, 1993) kidnapping

Fran (Glenda Hambly, 1985) custody

Ghosts ... of the Civil Dead (John Hillcoat, 1989) prison

Heart of the Stag (Michael Firth, 1986) NZ; incest

Heartbreak Kid, The (Michael Jenkins, 1993) drugs

High Tide (Gillian Armstrong, 1987) parental custody

Holidays on the River Yarra (Leo Berkeley, 1990) delinquency

Hoodwink (Claude Whatham, 1981)

Interview, The (Craig Monahan, 1998) crime (murder)

Jammed, The (Dee McLachlan, 2007) sex slavery

Jenny Kissed Me (Brian Trenchard-Smith, 1986) custody

Life (Lawrence Johnston, 1995) prison

Lilian's Story (Jerzy Domaradzki, 1996) incest

Little Fish (Rowan Woods, 2005) drugs

Mad Max (Dr George Miller, 1979) hoons

Mallboy (Vincent Giarrusso, 2000) delinquency

Metal Skin (Geoffrey Wright, 1995) hoons

Mouth to Mouth (John Duigan, 1978)

No Escape (Martin Campbell, 1994)

No Worries (David Elfick, 1993) poverty

Rabbit-Proof Fence (Phil Noyce, 2001) racism

Romper Stomper (Geoffrey Wright, 1992) racism

Running on Empty (John Clark, 1982) hoons

Shame (Steve Jodrell, 1988) culture of misogyny

Slate, Wyn and Me (Don McLennan, 1987) abduction

Soft Fruit (Christina Andreef, 1999)

Stir! (Stephen Wallace, 1980) prison

Stone (Sandy Harbutt, 1974) bikie gang

Sweetie (Jane Campion, 1989) mental illness

Teesh and Trude (Melanie Rodriga, 2002) poverty, custody

Turkey Shoot (Brian Trenchard-Smith, 1982) prison (futuristic fantasy)

27A (Esben Storm, 1974) alcoholism

Yolngu Boy (Stephen Johnson, 2001) petrol-sniffing


Bibliography

Brownlow, Kevin 1990, Behind the Mask of Innocence: Sex, Violence, Prejudice, Crime: Films of Social Conscience in the Silent Era, Jonathan Cape, London.

Maltby, R. 1983, Harmless Entertainment: Hollywood and the Ideology of Consensus, Scarecrow Press, Metuchen.

Neale, Steve 2000, Genre and Hollywood, Routledge, London & New York: 112-118.

Roffman, P. & J. Purdy 1981, The Hollywod Social Problem Film: Madness, Despair and Politics from the Depression to the Fifties, Indiana University Press, Bloomington.

Ross, S. J. 1998, Working-Class Hollywood: Silent Film and the Shaping of Class in America, Princeton University Press, Princeton.

Sloan, K. 1988, The Loud Silents: Origins of the Social Problem Film, University of Illinois Press, Urbana.


New: 30 October, 2006 | Now: 15 November, 2009 | garrygillard[at]gmail.com