The Combination | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | David Field |
Produced by | John Perrie |
Written by | George Basha |
Starring | George Basha Firass Dirani Clare Bowen Vaughn White Michael Denkha Doris Younane |
Music by | Labib Jammal |
Cinematography | Toby Oliver |
Edited by | Ken Sallows |
Distributed by | Australian Film Syndicate |
Release date
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Running time
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96 minutes |
Country | Australia |
Language | English |
Budget | A$1.7 million |
Box office | A$742,355 (Australia) |
The Combination is a 2009 Australian drama film, directed by David Field and written by George Basha. The film covers the relations between Lebanese Australians and Anglo Australians in parts of Western Sydney. Parts of the film focus on the 2005 Cronulla riots in Australia between Lebanese Australians and Anglo Australians.
Basha and Field met and began working on the screenplay in 2001. Principal photography began in 2008, taking place in and around the Sydney suburbs of Guildford and Parramatta. The film was released on 26 February 2009. It received generally positive reviews from critics. It also caused some controversy after two violent incidents caused the film to be temporarily pulled from some cinemas.
After serving time in gaol, Lebanese Australian John Morkos returns home. He finds work as a cleaner at a boxing gym, owned by an Aboriginal man. John also meets and begins a relationship with Sydney, an Anglo Australian after saving her from being assaulted by two men. John soon finds that his younger brother, Charlie, has been involved in fights between his Lebanese friends and the white students at school. Fearing that Charlie is going down the path he has been on, John tries to talk some sense into Charlie.
Charlie ignores John's warnings and with his friend Zeus start selling methamphetamines for Ibo, the local drug kingpin. Not long after that, another one of Charlie's friends, Tom, punches a stranger in the head, after playing and losing an arcade game to him. The stranger's friend gets involved in the fight and later on Tom's friends join in. The stranger's friend holds Zeus in a headlock during the fight and while doing so Tom stabs him with a knife and ends up in jail. Meanwhile, John and Sydney's relationship blossoms. At school, tensions between the Lebanese and Anglo boys increase. The Anglos, led by Scott, gang-bash one of the Lebanese boys, breaking his jaw and nose. The rest of the Lebanese boys decide to take revenge on Scott but are persuaded by John not to do anything.