Trouble is My Business review

Reviewed by David T Hay

There’s little that is more satisfying in the world of the moving image than a good, old fashioned, fly on the wall documentary. This one follows Assistant Principal at Aorere College, Mr Peach, through a school year. It documents his ups and downs as he battles with endearing vigour and compassion the daily problems of student misbehaviour which range from drug use to truancy to racially aligned fights at break time.

This film gives a fascinating insight that the Academy going public will probably only ever see through the prism of government statistics and newspaper reports. This doco, however, relegates the social commentary to being a by-product of the personal stories told and this is the greatest success of the film as it manages to display everyone in their glorious and flawed humanity. We’re never denied the opportunity to see the redeeming features of these kids, despite the fact that they’re only ever in the movie due to some kind of transgression. One of the kids the film focuses on is Mosese, a recent arrival from Tonga, struggling to fit in and teetering on the brink of expulsion. His trips to Mr Peach’s office chart a string of misdemeanours that escalate in severity, but in every visit we catch a glimpse of the soft side of a tough boy who’s trying really hard to make the best of his circumstances. He’s quick to flash a smile and even while seething with anger after a fight with some Samoan boys he tells Mr Peach with endearing fraternal warmth ‘They smashed my little brother. If he’s done something they need to tell me and I’ll smash him.’ It’s difficult not to like Mosese.

But this film does more than focus on the individual kids. What we learn from their stories and excuses, and from Mr Peach’s encounters with the teachers, the Deputy Head and the parents, is just how the physical circumstances of these kids is effecting their behaviour. The result is the opening of a door to a long history of systemic failures that are leading these kids to Mr Peach’s office. And Mr Peach himself, for all his enthusiasm and caring is part of this tragedy also, only able to put out fires and haul the kids back to school while rarely having the time or the opportunity to do the work he knows is required to make a real difference.

It’s not a perfect movie however. The film barely meets the minimum technical requirements of a feature documentary, and the opening five minutes are decidedly dicey as we are greeted with unnecessary and over-editorialised titles that set up the situation.  There are also many questions left unanswered, leaving me with the feeling that the filmmakers have been pulling their punches in the edit. But let’s not split hairs, this is a tragic, funny and moving film with an overriding feeling of authenticity.

Four stars.