Red, White and Brass

image for Red, White and Brass

Short takes

Not suitable under 9; parental guidance to 11 (language, themes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Red, White and Brass
  • a review of Red, White and Brass completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 27 June 2023.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 9 Not suitable due to language and themes.
Children aged 9–11 Parental guidance recommended due to language and themes.
Children aged 12 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Red, White and Brass
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild coarse language
Length: 85 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

It is 2011 and France will be playing against Tonga in the Rugby World Cup, hosted by Wellington. Local resident Maka (John-Paul Foliaki) is determined to go and see the match in person and cheer his beloved Tongan team on – the only problem is that tickets are prohibitively expensive. Undeterred, Maka enlists the help of his friend Veni (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) and other members of his church group in an attempt to raise funds to buy tickets. When things don’t go according to plan, Maka uses his connections to attempt to purchase tickets from a gang member but these results are even worse than the fundraising fiasco. By the time Maka gathers the funds to purchase a few tickets, the match has sold out. Momentarily devastated, and blamed by everyone else for his failure to secure tickets, Maka approaches the city council and devises a new plan. He has promised that he has a professional level marching band that is able to represent Tonga at the match and he agrees to have them perform in exchange for seats at the game. The only problem is that he doesn’t have a band, the friends and family he finally convinces to join him have mostly never played before, and no one has instruments. But that’s ok because they have four weeks to find instruments; learn to play (and march while playing); create uniforms; convince the council, their parents and church group that they are good enough to perform; and ultimately wow the world.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Drug use; Going against cultural traditions or norms; Forging your own path when everything appears to be against you; Extreme patriotism; Social media sabotage.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • Maka’s sister threatens to, “smash him with a knife”, if he doesn’t help her in the kitchen.
  • A character gestures threateningly to another, pretending his hand is a gun and threatening to pull the trigger.
  • Some random characters verbally bully the band, belittling them and making them feel useless and ridiculous for even attempting to play.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Adidas (a jumper was worn, and the logo clearly displayed).

Sexual references

  • None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • A character has his pants pulled down and his underwear is clearly shown.
  • During a rehearsal the skirt of one of the band members is accidentally yanked off (again exposing underwear) and the entire mishap is filmed and uploaded to social media.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Some characters are clearly into drugs as there are bongs in the background. They appear to be into various illegal and illicit activities and are referred to as gang members.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Shit
  • Idiot
  • Drop nuts
  • Brat
  • Hell
  • Fatty
  • Fool
  • You suck.

In a nutshell

Red, White and Brass is a heartfelt New Zealand film based on true events. The inspirational story will be best enjoyed by mature audiences, rugby fans and anyone who appreciates the power of an underdog fighting for what they believe in and fearlessly representing their country and culture.

The main messages from this movie are that with enough faith and hard work, anything is possible; and that those who never give up on their dreams, even when absolutely everything is stacked against them, are the ones who affect real change, who inspire the world and prove to others what they have known to be true all along.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Persistence
  • Determination
  • Courage
  • Faith
  • Teamwork
  • Creativity.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • Deceiving others, even when your intentions are good.
  • Putting people down because they stray from tradition or doing things the way that they have always been done.
  • Taking patriotism to the extreme.
  • Using social media to humiliate or discredit others.