Romper Stomper remake raises racial anxieties

David Stratton blasted the 1992 original with Russell Crowe and Muslim leaders are just as wary of its latest incarnation.

Actors Nicole Chamoun, Lily Sullivan and Lachy Hulme. Picture: Aaron Francis

Romper Stomper’s TV revival will have its world premiere in South Melbourne tonight and the latest instalment in the white supremacist saga has already put multicultural and Muslim leaders on tenterhooks.

The original film catapulted Russell Crowe to stardom, playing a violent skinhead, and garnered both widespread ­acclaim and condemnation for its depiction of neo-Nazis in Melbourne’s inner-western Footscray.

The TV sequel will appear on Stan on New Year’s Day. It grabbed headlines recently when producers sued former neo-Nazi Neil Erikson, in the spotlight for targeting Labor senator Sam Dastyari last month, for using the name of the show’s white pride gang, Patriot Blue.

Victorian Multicultural Commission chair Helen Kapalos said the new Romper Stomper “could and probably would” inflame ­racial tensions.

“There’s certainly a rise in the far right … but most Australians have a lived experience of diversity and I think they will be able to cut through the debate,” she said.

“It seems unlikely to me the show will portray the reality of multiculturalism in Australia today … we have to also focus on its successes.”

Romper Stomper creator Geoffrey Wright said storytellers had to avoid giving into political correctness. “Are people concerned if someone watches a show like this, they’ll have their head turned? Nobody thinks Shakespeare’s Richard III is an endorsement of child killers.”

The Australian’s film critic David Stratton refused in 1992 to rate Romper Stomper for its Nazi themes on his popular SBS show but his co-host Margaret Pomeranz gave it 4½ stars.

“I don’t think much as changed in those 25 years but I think political correctness has hit a high-water mark,” Wright said.

Islamic Council of Victoria vice-president Adel Salman said he was concerned about Romper Stomper personalising far-right views. “There’s a very fine line towards portraying extremists and trying to rationalise or emphasise with their views,’’ he said.

“We’d have these concerns if there was a show about Muslims with extremist views.”

Offspring actor Lachy Hulme plays the far-right gang’s leader and said it was the “most vile” character he’s played. “When I was in The Hollowmen, or playing Kerry Packer, I liked to stay in character because it was so fun, but not on this job,’’ he said.

Nicole Chamoun plays a Lebanese Muslim caught between the far right and far left and said her character acts the audience’s window into the Romper Stomper world. “We have a lot of different perspectives in the show ... I think it’s important that the Muslim characters are the ones who are the most relatable of everyone,” she said.

Lily Sullivan is the leader of the far-left anarchists and said Romper Stomper reflected the current political climate.