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About SAMARITAN

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU SAW SOMEONE IN TROUBLE? WOULD YOU HELP?

SAMARITAN (2008) - 7m:40s

Martin’s life is turned upside down one morning when he goes to the aid of a young woman being beaten by a man with a gun. In a matter of seconds, the shooter attacks Martin and murders another man also trying to help diffuse the situation. While recovering from the experience, Martin must deal with the enormity of the consequences arising from the incident and his feelings of guilt over the death of the other man trying to help.

Movie Details

Comments

• Ben Warner on 07 July at 03:44

  On 18th June 2007 in the city of Melbourne (Australia), a tragic event occurred that shocked everyone in the nation. A bikie gang member dragged his girlfriend out by her hair from a nightclub at around 8.20am; two men standing nearby rushed to help. The bikie pulled out a gun and shot all three, wounding two and fatally shooting one of the men.
  
  The attack on these two good samaritans and the girl involved sent a shockwave through the hearts and minds of the Australian public, and led to an outcry to capture this bikie gang member and bring him to justice. As it turned out, he cowardly turned himself in to police out of fear of further retribution from the bikie gang he was a part of for bringing police attention to the gang. In May 2008, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
  
  My personal connection to this incident was just how close I came to being in the vicinity of the shooting that morning. The day before, I had decided to start work at 8.30am the next day. It usually takes me fifteen minutes to walk to work. The place where the shooting occurred was on my walking route to work. If I had left at 8.15am as intended, I would have walked through this area at the time of the shooting. As it turned out, I woke up earlier than expected and decided to leave for work a half hour earlier and missed the whole thing. I learned of the incident when I arrived at work.
  
  One of the immediate questions that sprung in to my mind was, “you could have been in that situation, what would you have done?” It is easy to say you would rush to help, but you never know what you will do, especially if your own life is in danger as a result; to be honest, I still do not have a definitive answer to that question. I would like to think I would have done something.
  
  What came afterwards was a media frenzy that disturbingly sensationalised the incident. In one particular news program, the news producers staged an incident, in this case smashing in to another person’s car in a car park, and waited to see who in the area would do anything about it. To their surprise, hardly any one did anything. The news program tried to make the point that we live in a heartless society where no one helps each other. Upon watching this, I came to a different conclusion; the reason why people do not help each other is because they could end up facing devastating consequences for themselves, as highlighted by the Melbourne CBD shootings. When I realised this, I knew there was a film to be made from it. I wanted to get this message out that had somehow been lost in all the media hype and sensation. I also wanted to highlight the effects of such an incident on the victims, and how they would live with this experience for the rest of their lives while everyone else, particularly the media, would move on.
  
  Having had a good half year to think about all these issues, the script was very easy to write (I completed it in an afternoon). “Samaritan” took a little longer to get in to production as I had submitted it to Film Victoria for funding consideration. Unfortunately, they turned it down, and I had to re-write the script for a much smaller budget. I lost a couple of things that I really wanted in the film, mainly in terms of scale and CBD location shooting, but that is the reality of filmmaking.
  
  The cast assembled for the film were top notch. I had worked with Colin MacPherson numerous times in the past, and his performance in the film is spot on for a character that is haunted by his actions. His reactions in the shooting scene were very real and human. Gail Beker had the daunting task of balancing her performance between being realistically clinical, yet dramatically empathetic for the purposes of the film. Glen Hancox was brilliantly brutal as the shooter, while Adam Pritchard and Paola Ly were excellent as the victims.
  
  Without a doubt, the scene that consumed the most time for me in terms of how I would approach it was the shooting scene. This scene had to be brutal, and you had to “feel” the event as you watched it. I laboured long and hard over the types of shots I needed, we did a number of rehearsals with the actors, and I must have re-edited that scene at least fifty times until I got exactly the right timings of each cut (sometimes to the frame) so that it would flow seamlessly and look one hundred percent real. You have to remember that thanks to budget restrictions, no gun was fired on set, not even a blank. It’s all performance, editing and sound.
  
  I am proud of the film. It was the first production made under the Small Wave Films banner, and the first I shot in high definition. Judging by the comments I have received, its themes and messages seem to resonate quite strongly by those who watch it. I would have liked the budget from Film Victoria as there were a few scenes that I felt suffered in terms of scale, but overall, it was an amazing experience, a great cast and a good result.

  

• Digicosm TV on 05 April at 00:26

  SAMARITAN was made as a response to the violence I saw in my home city, and it was not hard to see how prevalent that violence is all over the world. It would be great if we lived in a world where this didn't happen, and maybe together as a society, we can make a difference.
  
  We'd love to hear what you think of this film. Your feedback/discussions will assist our team in delivering new films for DIGICOSM TV.
  
  Regards, Ben Warner. DIGICOSM TV.

  
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