Review and photos: Slam at Sydney Film Festival

June 19, 2019

Addy Fong checked out Slam at Sydney Film Festival. Here’s her review and her photos from the red carpet:

I’ve been thinking recently about how it has become almost commonplace for many individuals living in Australia, myself included, to have their legitimacy of being Australian challenged by assumptions based on appearance or stereotype. I’ve often been asked questions such as ‘What’s your English name?’ or ‘Your English is pretty good considering your looks’ as if I require an English name in order to fit in, or my ability to communicate is clearly based on my appearance. For many who have been in similar situations, it’s always a little frustrating having to explain or compromise by following particular customs and norms in order to assimilate into Australia’s White majority.

Thankfully, my experience of the casual racism I’ve had to endure has been novel and I’ve learnt to compromise certain misunderstandings by brushing them off with self-deprecating humour. It is of concern however, when certain community groups are attacked, marginalised, and thought less of due to their appearance and choice of dress.

Partho Sen-Gupta’s Slam illustrates this danger and the consequences of stereotyping community groups, particularly those of Palestinian origin and those of Anglo appearance, those of Islamic and of Christian religious backgrounds, all of which has sparked an environment of distrust and xenophobia within Australia in recent years.

The story follows Ricky Naser (Adam Bakri) search of his missing sister Ameena (Danielle Horvat) whose disappearance divides the Australian community through misconceptions based on race and religion, namely as Ameena was a young woman who wore a hijab and performed quite politically charged spoken-word pieces.

The power of words to enforce ideologies are interesting to note within the film as the weight or validity of one group’s view is dependant on many factors at play, specifically relating to themes of power, dominance, politics, and representation. Ameena’s spoken word poetry is powerful and brought to the forefront of the film through Sen-Gupta’s decision to use her piece to frame the narrative, placing it at the beginning and the end as a way of tying the film together. However, the dominance of Australia’s White majority in shaping societal perspectives is echoed throughout the film, with examples being the assimilation of migrant families to conform to White Australia’s customs, the police or figures of authority being of Anglo background, the media’s manipulation shaping Ameena as an extremist or terrorist in order to divide groups based on religious views, and the critique of Ricky’s cross cultural relationship with his partner Sally (Rebecca Breeds).

Throughout much of the film the protagonist goes by the name of Ricky, having adopted an identity catered towards a predominately Anglo-Australian perspective, whilst at home his mother calls him Tariq. Here Partho Sen-Gupta’s character of Ricky/Tariq highlights the tension felt by many first generation migrant children who carry both names as identifiers; one belonging to the countries their parents come from and another seemingly more suited to the Australia’s white majority. Here we see an adoption and assimilation of identity to fit the norm, representing the melting pot of culture as addressed throughout the film.

Slam, however, isn’t merely a story about the conflict and clash of cultures but one of power and dominance by the majority. Ricky and Ameena’s experience with bigoted views is frightening to observe, especially given the story is so close to home, having been filmed and set in Sydney’s Southwest suburbs where are many migrant families with diverse cultural backgrounds have settled.

Providing another perspective on this power struggle is Joanne (Rachael Blake), a female police officer investing the case whose opinions are often downplayed or dismissed by her male counterparts.

Tying both stories together is the fear many individual carry in having to adapt to the majority and ultimately compromise parts of their identity to do so.

Having grown up in Australia as a child of Chinese migrant parents and living in the Western suburbs, I don’t think Slam’s story is a new one, presenting issues and assumptions that have always been there and will always need to be addressed. Like many of the characters within the film, assumptions have been made based purely on appearance and preconceived notions which form part of our social prejudices. The casual racism and sexism experienced by the characters within Slam is often too common and something that many individuals like myself face on an often daily basis, making the difficult subject matter of this story more important to represent in film. I find the subtleties and generalisations of one’s identity on a casual day-to-day basis made by those I interact with and care for more hurtful than racial attacks from xenophobic groups with extreme viewpoints. I believe the subtle racism we give or receive is something we all need to consider, because our words can be so powerful and divisive.

Partho Sen-Gupta’s Slam is an important film, not because it highlights the separation of cultural groups within Australian society, but because it brings forth the variety of perspectives all of which should be represented on our screens.