Brothers on the streets, in the surf

“Bra Boys,” a documentary about a blood-splattered Australian “surf tribe” 10 miles beyond Sydney, is easily dismissible as Bloods versus Crips at sea. There’s poverty, single moms, alienated teens and casual violence.

But there is a redemptive quality at play that cannot be found in the lives of most urban gangs: the pull of the ocean and its momentary ability to provide a sanctified experience. The contrast between grainy videos of street fights and gorgeous scenes of the same boys conquering enormous waves is simultaneously inspiring and sad. Imagine a world in which gang members looked forward to singing in the Sunday choir.

Narrated by Russell Crowe and told largely through the voices of the four Abberton brothers, “Bra Boys” (the name comes from the last syllable of their ghetto, Maroubra Beach) shows the roots of the gang developing in a seaside public housing project. The oldest Abberton, Sunny, who wrote, produced and directed the documentary, describes growing up with a heroin-addicted mother and winding up in the care of a grandmother.

News videos capture the spread of violence, and footage taken by gang members shows them bragging about their bullet and knife wounds and enjoying being set afire and diving off a cliff into the ocean. It is only when the movie shows how the Abbertons’ grandfather taught the brothers and their friends how to surf that a humanizing effect sets in.

Sunny joined a pro surfing tour and seemed to lift himself out of violence. But at the same time, rivalries between groups of surfers exploded. The Bra Boys clearly enjoyed the notoriety, and the movie cuts between videos of boys bathing in the luxury of competition with the waves and fending off criminal charges that threaten to imprison two of the brothers.

You should not care about a bunch of punks who can brag offhandedly, “Chicks dig scars.” Or who can dismiss a fight in which 41 police were hurt by saying, “It was just a good, old-fashioned brawl.” But when they’re in the water, forced to conduct themselves with humility in the arms of a stronger opponent, you do.

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“Bra Boys.” MPAA rating: R for language, some violent content and reckless behavior. Running time: 1 hour, 24 minutes. In limited release.