Sunny Abberton Analysis

Released in 2007, the BRA BOYS documentary is a clever, compelling and entertaining look at the life of the infamous surf gang the Maroubra boys or ‘BRA’ BOYS, featuring the lives of the four Abberton brothers - Sunny, Kobi, Jai and Dakota.
Readers will be totally unaware that they have been masterfully manipulated by its director, writer and producer, Sunny Abberton himself a BRA BOY, who has used every trick to contort the truth and twist emotions in an effort to depict this violent, criminal gang as a loyal band of Aussie battlers and evoke only empathy and admiration from its overly trusting viewers. Sunny has intentionally used a well known narrator for his so called authenticity, purposeful omission of relative important facts, emotional

Without realising it the viewers will only hear the voices and opinions of the BRA BOYS themselves. Testimonies from victims of their gang violence, authorities, police, the community and members of rival gangs, have been deliberately left out, in order to control the “evidence.” So many incriminating details have been completely omitted so that viewers only hear one side of the story. Viewers will believe that the BRA BOYS had no choice but to defend their territory when in many cases they, not rival gangs, were the “instigators.” Yes Sunny subtly silences their critics, but viewers will have absolutely no idea about the hidden truth. They will be blissfully unaware that in 2003, the federal government identified the BRA BOYS as an, “Eastern suburbs drug syndicate” trafficking cocaine or that in the “self defence” murder of Hines, Jai Abberton callously dragged the body to the edge of the cliff and dumped it into the sea below. Viewers won’t see the serious injuries inflicted by guns, knives and baseball bats of the BRA BOYS or the faces of the police women seriously injured by them in an infamous brawl with off duty police at the Coogee

Viewers will feel like they are surfing alongside the Abbertons as Sunny shoots the thrills of big wave surfing. They will experience the actual gang violence when Sunny includes real life footage of the events. In contrast are some very spell-binding yet simply shot personal interviews with gang members including the Abbertons. Theses spotlight interviews evoke a feeling of revealing or interrogating the gang members to ‘reveal the hard truths’ or is that constructed truth? They show their injuries and reveal wounds from violence. These shots showing the physicality of the bare-chested BRA BOYS but also their vulnerability are filmed on a black background with dim lighting and focus on their identifiable tattoos - MY BROTHERS KEEPER. The spotlight interviews evoke a feeling of revealing or interrogating the gang members to ‘reveal the hard truths’ or is that constructed truth? They show their injuries and reveal wounds from violence. The violence they inflicted is not featured. This intensifies the depth of the words and viewers will connect yet again with their loyalties to each other in the face of