Title: Blackrock
Director: Steve Vidler
Actors: Jessica Napier, Heath Ledger, Laurence Breuls a.o.
Runtime: 103 Mins.

I bought it on ebay a few months ago. I, initially, bought it, because Jessica Napier, who played Becky Howard on McLeod’s Daughters was in it. I wanted to see some of her other work and this was very cheap, only 5 euros, so I thought why not.

Turns out it was not a waste of money. It is a low budget movie, which, as you might have read before, I love. It is a typically Aussie movie.

The movie is gritty and realistic. It is about a girl who gets gang raped and killed on the beach, during a party and the main character Jared witnesses it. The rapists are people he knows and he is torn. Does he have to go to the police or protect his friends. He, eventually, runs away from home and breaks up with his girlfriend, played by Jessica.

It is a very realistic movie. Even though it is a movie for teenagers it actually has a plot and it looks great. Camera work and the locations are amazing. The rape scene is one that sticks with you for a long time. I kept thinking of it for days, after watching it. It is haunting and not for the faint of heart.

It is interesting to see how one person’s world can totally fall apart when he realizes his friends are not who he thinks they are. The dilemma that Jared is dealing with is portrayed amazing well and Laurence Breuls does an amazing job. I am surprised he hasn’t got the kind of career Heath Ledger has now. He is great as the torn Jared, who is angry with himself for not helping the girl.

Jessica Napier does a great job too. She does not have that big a part, but she is the one who first finds the girl. My fave scene of her is when her character is not allowed to go to the party and she tells her father it must be because she is a girl, because her brother can go. The anger over the double standard is very apparent in her eyes.

I recently found out that this movie is actually based on a real story and apparently there also is a play version of it. I would like to see it, but I’m not sure if they still perform it. The movie I give a 8.5/10