“I don’t think I’ve ever been so insulted in all my life!”
This is how http://www.chopperread.com/title.htm”Mark “Chopper” Read [Eric Bana], notorious Australian crim, reacts when the local cop refuses to believe his true confession of murdering a man outside a Melbourne disco. And it encapsulates much about Read, in this near-authentic portrayal.
In “Chopper” Read, who rose to fame on the strength of his autobiography (and nine sequels, thus far), we see a bundle of bizarre psycho-pathologies that gives the hose to the finest fiction villains. Read is a morbidly irresistible mix of savagery and black humor, callousness and rough justice. A man who made his mark torturing and killing drug dealers and other underworld figures and taking their loot. (The film tagline is a quote from the man himself: “I never killed anyone that didn’t deserve it.”) Here’s the kind of naughty fella that meat pie-and-beer Australians tend to cheer for.
Bana broke his career wide open with his Oscar-worthy portrayal of the psychotic Read, wrapping himself in Chopper’s tattooed, bullet-and-knife-scarred skin. Right down to his flat-footed duck waddle and gutter-smart one-liners. (“Well I bashed you Keith. And let’s face it: you’ve got a face that needs regular panel-beating.”)
The film -- which chills and tickles in perfect harmony -- sticks closely to the real-life script. (Though, in a bonus-feature commentary, the original Chopper does complain that his father would have been disappointed at being played by a bald man who didn’t have his shotgun beside him at all times.) And it’s hard to switch off a film, however grotesque, when the protagonist is capable of stabbing a man repeatedly in the neck and head, and then ask his victim with genuine concern: “Are you alright, mate?”
But one of the most stupefying moments in the movie is when Read reveals his plan for getting rid of his (many) prison enemies in one fell swoop. Watch for that one.
The madman genius of Read is layered carefully and faithfully, scene by jolting scene: having a fellow inmate cut off Read’s ears so he’ll be moved to the prison hospital; bragging to a TV interviewer that he enjoyed the way his victims’ toes just “sort of popped off” when he used his bolt cutters on them; or claims that he’s just an “ordinary bloke who likes a bit of torture.”
Various contracts -- some issued by the Mafia -- have to date failed to halt the rise of Read-the-celebrity, who now makes a tidy living doing live shows and writing about his ugly experiences.
A carefully drawn depiction of the seediest corner of Australia’s underbelly, this film is a classic in its own right. And old “Chop Chop” just may have you laughing as feel your stomach churn.
-- Eric Bana