Blue Murder (Australian Mini-Series/Crime)
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: B- Episodes: B+
Australian TV is underrated and we have been lucky enough
to see some of their output on DVD, but Michael Jenkins’ Blue Murder
(1995) is a very graphic, honest, very well made mini-series about how gangster
and police affairs become so intertwined and interlocked that an inane and
insane killing spree followed that even caused the show to be banned 6
additional years in New South Wales where the conflict took place as it went
through the courts. Easily a match for The
Sopranos, this new 2 DVD set from the ambitious label Subversive Cinema
deserves a place on the collector’s shelf next to that series the way State
Of Grace (reviewed elsewhere on this site) and Year Of The Dragon
belong next to Goodfellas, The Godfather Saga and Scarface.
Richard Roxburgh (from the happy musical Moulin Rogue)
is Roger “The Dodger” Rogerson, a very respectable and successful police
officer who makes the mistake of unleashing mega-gangster Arthur “Neddy” Smith
on Sydney’s underworld after an attempt to kill an office, known more literally
as “blues” down under than elsewhere.
This runs 3 hours, 17 minutes, but is never boring and always offering
the next interesting scene, moment, piece of information, next key moment and
when it was all finished, it felt like the next step forward in growth of
television as an honest, dramatic medium.
Like Pulp Fiction, it feels like it is turning the clock forward
again after the regressive 1980s. Some
have compared this to The Shield, another show that is well written and
seems to pick up where the broadcast networks could no longer go forward in the
Police Crime Drama with. However, there
is more here.
Besides offering us a gritty look at Australia that is not
some pampered art piece or a Hollywood production using its beauty as a
backdrop, it takes us to places we have never been before, shows us a new side
of the country that is as dark as it is interesting without the usual political
stories of racism troubles down there that are ever-ugly. Instead, it shows the least shown
industrialized nation around in a new light that for all the bad things that
happen within the narrative does not make the country look always bad.
The acting from the mostly unknown cast is exceptional,
with amazing energy and nail-on-the-head performances that you will rarely see
on TV anywhere. The violence is always
contextual and that always makes it seem more relevant to show what is going
on. Unlike the state of the Gangster
genre in the U.S. with its Hip Hop cult and endless clichés’ myths and lies,
Ian David’s teleplay (based on many actual documents about the case) is never
tired and has a great tempo going for it.
It even avoids the tired conventions of the recent wave of police
procedurals that are getting progressively worse. A phenomenon down under, it deserves a big following elsewhere
and though it may not be as safe as Men At Work or Heath Ledger, Blue Murder
is a classic and must-see for anyone remotely interested in the material.
The 1.33 X 1 image is from the original analog PAL final
edit material, which has been fixed up as much as possible. The series was actually shot in Super 16mm
film, but like so many British, Canadian and U.S. TV productions, the editing
was done on tape only. This production
is lucky the edit survived. For digital
High Definition in the future, the owners are going to have to go back to the
original film elements and re-edit the series all over again with the help of
cinematographer Martin McGrath and editor Bill Russo, but this will always be
the way it was originally presented.
Super 16mm has a wider 1.66 X 1 aspect ratio than regular TV. That includes some slight haziness
throughout and colors that are held back and veiled by the age of the
film-to-tape transfer. Ironically, this
helps the drama.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is here is a 5.1 remix that
boosts the sound to some sense of ambience and the original 2.0 with its simple
stereo sound and weak surrounds.
Dialogue is fine and the gunshots are more than loud enough, but the
presentations in both cases are lighter than usual in fullness. I wonder what this would have sounded like
in DTS. Extras across two DVDS include
text bio info on the cast & crew, stills, trailer gallery for other
Subversive Cinema titles on both discs, editing workshop with Russo in
anamorphic 16 X 9, cast/crew featurette and audio commentary by Russo and
Jenkins.
- Nicholas Sheffo
