The Straits: Season 1

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Australia released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: 3-DVD Set, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: Beautiful One Day. Deadly The Next. Set among the turquoise waters and lethal wildlife of Far North QLD and the Torres Strait, THE STRAITS is an exotic, darkly humorous crime drama series. The Montebellos are not your average Australian family. Modern day smugglers, their family business is transporting drugs to Australia, and guns and exotic wildlife out, making use of blood ties and loyalty in the Torres Strait. When Harry (Brian Cox), the head of the family, starts to plan his succession he sparks a vicious family power struggle. However, under attack from bikies and Papua New Guinea raskols, the family must hold together through torture, assassination and imprisonment. ...The Straits - Season 1 - 3-DVD Set ( The Straits - Season One )

The Straits: Season 1 Review

Australian television is coming into its own. This is a well-written, well-acted series that's as addictive as the drugs that are the heart of the Montebello family business.

You can compare The Straits to Shakespeare, if you bear in mind that Shakespeare was writing for the masses. And it is very much a family saga. Patriarch Harry Montebello (brilliantly played by veteran Shakespearean actor Brian Cox)is raising his kids according to family tradition. They are all crooks. The beautiful and talented Rena Owen (unforgettable in "Once Were Warriors") is his wife, Kitty. She is the daughter of an important Torres Straits family and takes her job as matriarch seriously. They have three sons and a daughter, all of whom are involved in some aspect of family business. Only one, however, will run it. And therein lies the rub.

In the first episode, Harry is about to "make some changes." He's not, he tells his mistress/attorney, going to set the cat among the pigeons, he is going to ram the pigeon down their throats. And so begins a ten episode journey into a crime family that leaves the Sopranos looking like a bunch of New Jersey wannabes.

The cast is top notch. You don't get better than Cox and Owens. Aaron Fa'aoso (now there is eye candy!) created the series and plays eldest son Noel...smart and ambitious but a little too hotheaded...think Sonny Corleone. According to Island tradition, "Island way," as they call it, Noel is destined to succeed Harry. But Harry is having second thoughts and decides to mix things up a bit...no automatic succession. Instead, whoever takes over the Montebello businesses (which in addition to drug smuggling, include an alligator farm and the illegal exportation of endangered and exotic animals) will have to earn it. Marou (Jimi Bani), the middle boy, doesn't have Noel's brains, but he's eager to please... his wife Lola (Emma Lung) sees herself as a kingmaker. She's a beauty, but not half as clever as she thinks she is...a dangerous combination. Youngest son Gary (Firass Dirani)is just getting his feet wet in the business and is much happier chasing girls and getting high. And then there is Sissy (Suzannah Bayes-Morton), the only daughter and the brainiest of the siblings. The children, all adopted and all representing different ethnic groups in the area, are close but there are rivalries. Is Montebello blood (and there is plenty of it) thicker than water?

If you are concerned about finding the Montebellos so likable, take heart: They are crooked but with a conscience. They don't kill unnecessarily, and when Noel finds himself the unwitting transporter of a cargo of underage girls intended for the sex trade, he calls in the police himself. Harry shows such genuine grief after having to put an end to a thieving associate, you really understand that, in his world, the killing was simply unavoidable. Even so, the show is over-the-top violent, with scenes of torture, mayhem, beatings, shootings, and one unforgettable arrow-through-the-face. But there is so much good humor in the show...even with the violence, you just cannot fault it.

Cox is incredible. His cockney accent is pitch perfect, and he somehow makes short, stocky Harry Montebello scary, likable, and downright, deliciously sexy. His soliloquies on fatherhood are priceless. The show is chockful of edge-of-the-seat excitement, laugh out loud wit, and some of the cleverest writing to be encountered on television. We see Harry as primarily a businessman. He deals in contraband, but he's reasonable about it. "The man who pulls a gun is a man who has lost the argument," he tells his sons. But when push comes to shove, Harry can dish out the retribution. Big time. Noel's hot temper causes a gang war and Harry arranges for the rather colorful dispatching of a biker thug. As the unfortunate biker is about to meet his wonderfully gruesome end, Harry turns to Noel and says "Wah-atch," sounding a bit like a prim schoolmarm. No averting of the eyes. Harry wants his son to understand that the wages of sin are sometimes not so pretty. This has to be, by the way, one of the most creative methods every employed to get rid of a pesky business rival. Later Marou turns to Noel and asks: "Do you think dad stays awake at night thinking of stuff like that?"

The characters are believable, three-dimensional and distinct. The villains are suitably villanous but never stereotypes, and the sidekicks and secondary characters are a delight to behold. Gary's buddy and bodyguard Eddie is dope addled but loyal as a dog. Wonderfully played by Cramer Cain, Eddie is the kind of guy you want on your side. High on whatever drugs he can get hold of (including at one point, an island's complete supply of snake anti-venom), Eddie is nothing if not game and always manages to come through when he's needed... even with the aforementioned arrow through his face or after his foot has been nailed to the floor. Harry's bodyguard, Vince, in a wonderfully low-key performance by Andy Anderson, gets some of the best lines...no mean feat in this well-written piece of work.

The Straits succeeds on every level. Visually stunning, it's worth watching for the scenery alone. Filmed in Cairns, Papua (New Guinea) and in the Torres Strait, it is almost but not quite as gorgeous as Aaron Fa'aoso. Only one season was filmed, just ten episodes. I have no idea why ABC (That's the Australian Broadcasting Company, by the way) didn't do a second season. It's available on Hulu, and the DVD is sold on Amazon.

I cannot think of a single television show I enjoyed more. "The Straits" is comparable to the best of U.S. cable...certainly nothing running on the networks here comes close. Funny, bloody, and top of the line. I hope everyone gets a chance to enjoy ten of the best hours on television.

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