Martin Bryant Piece - notes and resources fwjncwnconoenncjonejcneocnowjecn cijeiocneojcnweoncoewncoewncioqenc PDF

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Background Information On November 30, 2020, Australian media outlets reported that Port Arthur mass murderer, Martin Bryant, was to be the subject of a film which had begun production in the Victorian city of Geelong. Bryant is serving 35 life sentences concurrently for murder. In 1996, Bryant murdered 35 people and injured 23 others in Australia’s worst mass shooting at Port Arthur in Tasmania. Port Arthur, a former convict settlement, housed the most hardened of convicted British criminals from 1833-1853. The site is now a World Heritage property and is one of Australia's most visited historical sites, attracting more than 250,000 visitors each year. In response to the Port Arthur massacre, Australian state and territory governments, under the leadership of the then prime minister, John Howard, controversially introduced tough restrictions on firearms ownership and use in Australia. Following the shooting, Walter Mikac, whose wife and two young daughters – Alannah and Madeline – died at Port Arthur established the Alannah and Madeline Foundation. The work of the foundation, which focuses on the prevention of violence and the recovery of victims, continues today. The opinion piece ‘We don’t need a film about mass murderer Martin Bryant’ was published in The Age newspaper on December 1 st, 2020. The letter to the editor, ‘Port Arthur ought never to be exploited’, was published in the Herald Sun newspaper on December 6, 2020 as its Letter of the Day.

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film about Martin Bryant has sparked outrage

A Richard Keddie, producer, writer & director…has expertise which gives his views authority T opinion piece, The Age A readers of ‘The Age’, likely to include taxpayers P & Keddie seeks to persuade readers that a film about Bryant is irresponsible and should not be made C A - morally irresponsible; families of the victims should not be put through this suffering; Bryant should not be put on a pedestal; likely to present a distorted view of Bryant’s life; could inspire copycat crimes T – serious and authoritative

A Lyle Geyer, Herald Sun reader A readers of the Herald Sun, may include people who remember Port Arthur T letter to the editor T outraged C

a film about Martin Bryant is insulting and should not be made.

OPINION

We don't need a film about mass murderer Martin Bryant Richard Keddie, The Age, December 1, 2020

Art does not justify a Martin Bryant movie. Nor the public purse. I have made dozens of biographical movies, TV dramas and documentaries about the likes of Bob Hawke, John Curtin and Michelle Payne. It’s been the core of my story-telling career over 30 years. The decision and trust involved in telling someone’s story is a huge social and moral responsibility that needs careful processing. I believe a movie about Martin Bryant is entirely irresponsible and should be stopped in its tracks.

Do we need to be reminded of the madness of a man who shot little children? Do we need to understand him? To put him on a pedestal, no matter what the interpretation is? And most importantly, do we need to drag the families of the victims, dead and injured, and witnesses through this terrible act again? What a cruel thing to do.

The damage this story will do to the people it means the most to is incalculable. As a wise friend of mine called it: “intentional cruelty”.

I probably have as much experience in the processing of these biopic decisions as anyone in this country. They are not easy. The power to shatter lives is astounding, but few outside the process realise it or see it. Some years ago, a documentary about a prisoner, when aired on SBS, resulted in that person taking his life when he saw the film. The Ita Buttrose biopic was terrific. But her husband’s life was not positively interpreted by the makers, a moral call they made. He sued the ABC and was compensated but that doesn’t change how he is now seen by millions of Australians.

It is a bit like playing god. Kim Beazley wished me luck when I embarked on the Bob Hawke film, reminding me that Bob was Australia’s most successful litigator. I had editorial control over Bob’s life story, but I also promised him that if the script lied or got a fact wrong, I’d fix it. I showed Bob and Blanche the final cut in their lounge room. I made just one change, editing out a punch Bob swore he didn’t throw. Blanche, his biographer, was not so sure he didn’t throw it, but I honoured his wishes.

Michelle Payne’s mum was killed in a tragic car accident when Michelle was six months old. I found out that Michelle’s siblings, some of whom had been in the car at the time, were terrified that they would have to relive that moment in Ride Like A Girl. Thus, I made sure that we started the story when Michelle was seven years old.

Few people know the character you are depicting so the character and facts you create end up being the overriding view of a person’s life. No matter how accurate you are, it’s not the truth, it’s the maker’s interpretation of the truth. I told Michelle Payne that this will not be her on the screen. It is our interpretation. But my hope is that she walks away feeling that it fairly reflected her story and told her emotional truths.

The point is that I, and my team, drill down with the living subjects to seek the closest version of the truth that we can. We are not intentionally cruel or dispassionate for the sake of plying our art.

The Bryant story is not showing the shootings, just a film-maker's interpretation of the events in Bryant’s life that led to the act. Be clear, this is one or two persons’ views, which could be very distorted, of Bryant’s life. They will be accountable to no one. Certainly not to Bryant, or the victims. Nor to the taxpayers who I am sure are footing nearly a third of the bill, perhaps $3-4 million from the public purse.

I have nothing against this film-maker, but his creative bent seems to lean to the dark side. His interpretation scares me. As brilliant as he can be, I shudder at what he may do with Bryant’s story. The core layer of the 'bad guy' character is he still needs to be sympathetic, almost likeable, be it Chopper Read or Hannibal Lecter. Or Bryant??

Not surprisingly the film is shooting very much under the radar in Victoria. Not in Tasmania. Let’s guess that Tasmanians, who are keen to support film production, wouldn’t have them. Let’s guess that Tasmanians do not want this horrendous act retold or relived.

To tell Bryant’s story could be seen as a form of an assault, a harassment of the real people involved. We are shifting more and more into the darkest of human places and the industry could do well to reflect on this. How high or low do we set the moral bar? What do we do if the Hollywood star playing this person is nominated or even worse, wins the Best Actor award? A celebration of a monster, a real, living, breathing monster.

And are we as taxpayers happy to foot the bill in the name of art?

I fear for all those who watch it, who will be even more convinced of how terrible human beings are and more frightened of those around them. I fear for the troubled who may find inspiration, not education, from this terrible story. But most of all I fear for the people who this film is really about, who will spend a year or more dreading its release and reliving their grief all over again.

What are we doing?

Richard Keddie is an Australian producer, writer and director.

Port Arthur, Australia’s most visited historic site

Port Arthur ought never to be exploited

So Martin Bryant is to be

Have Australian people forgotten

history defies common-sense,

immortalised – as, what, the hero

the essence of what the Alannah

personally insults the lifework of

who chased down innocent

and Madeline Foundation stands

Walter Mikac and devalues the

children and gunned them down,

for?

still-grieving families of those

along with 30-plus other adult

senselessly killed.

tourists peacefully rediscovering

Has John Howard’s amnesty

Hobart’s convict past?

legislation which immediately

It would sicken all Australians

deprived other crazed, would-be

gifted with even a modicum of

What kind of warped mentality

mass murderers of the possibility

remorse for all of those innocents

could possibly conceive this

of copy-cat slaughter re-

mercilessly cut down.

horrendous film plot, the revisiting

enactments been forgotten?

of arguably the most tortuous and heart-rending episode in our nation’s history?

Shame on those who wrote the Any planned or proposed film

cheque for this film.

production of such an emotive, What has happened to respect for

such a nightmarish, trauma-

the dignity of human suffering?

evoking episode in our nation’s

Lyle Geyer, Essendon...