By Jackie Shannon
A sports-themed drama like no other, Broke follows Ben “BK” Kelly, a former rugby league star who has fallen prey to the dual demons of gambling and booze. He receives an unlikely helping hand, however, from Cec (Max Cullen), an ageing garbage collector and former fan. Cec offers to take the now homeless Ben home for the night, where he resides with his single mother daughter and fellow footy tragic, Terri (Claire Van Der Boom). Unable to resist his lesser urges, Ben’s addiction gets the better of him, and he robs the struggling family of their modest possessions (even flogging Cec’s dead wife’s urn) and hocks them to the local pawnbroker/crook, Neck (Justin Rosniak). Ben is eventually caught by the cops but is thrown a life line when Cec decides not only to not press charges, but to actually take him in permanently to help the former Daly M Medal winner turn his life around, to the initially sneering dissatisfaction of local cop and Ben’s former teammate, Sherro (Steve Bastoni). Hotly contemporary and achingly realistic, Broke is a topical story of redemption, hope, and determination.
Find out all about this gritty drama right here, in this Q&A hosted by FilmInk’s Erin Free, and featuring Broke writer/director, Heath Davis, producer, Luke Graham, cinematographer, Chris Bland, and actors, Steve Le Marquand, Max Cullen, and Justin Rosniak.
