Sunny Abberton's Personal Documentary 'Bra Boys' By Russell Crowe

Sunny Abberton's highly personal documentary, narrated by Russell Crowe, examines Australian surf culture – a far cry from the endless summer stereotype image of laid-back guys blessed out on being one with the waves -- through the story of his own family. What it lacks in objectivity, it makes up for in vivid intimacy.
The "Bra Boys" are surfers from Maroubra Beach ("maroubra" is an aboriginal word meaning "place of thunder"), a depressed suburban community south of Sydney, riddled with drugs, crime, street violence and broken families. The Abberton brothers – Sunny, Jai, Koby and Dakota – had three different fathers; their mother was a heroin addict and her boyfriend a thief. But their grandmother, Mavis "Ma" Abberton, lived a block from the beach and opened her home not only to her grandsons, but to also their friends, boisterous, directionless youngsters united by a ferocious love of wave riding. They call themselves a tribe – part of a long-standing tradition of beach tribes -- while the police and news media prefer the term "gang." Deeply rooted cultural bias against surfers from poor neighborhoods notwithstanding, the Abbertons and their friends did their part to foster the image of surf larrikins -- violent, tattooed, hell-raising punks who spent their land-based time drinking, baiting cops and waging turf wars. Sunny and Jai surfed professionally
Jai also murdered a local thug named Anthony Hines, and Koby was later charged with obstructing