We Can Be Heroes: Finding the Australian of the Year (2005)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Introduction Menu Animation & Audio Deleted Scenes Outtakes
Rating
Year Of Production	2005
Running Time	164:35
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Matthew Saville
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Chris Lilley
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

    The satirical mockumentary is one of my favourite forms of humour. I am a huge fan of the movies of Christopher Guest including This is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind. Accordingly, I was very interested to see this locally produced satirical mockumentary which I missed when it was shown on the ABC. This six part series was written and co-produced by local comedian Chris Lilley, who also stars as the 6 major characters. He does a fantastic job as a comedic actor in portraying such wildly varying characters, from country teenagers, to a middle aged woman, to a young Chinese PhD to a teenage school girl. He manages to capture the mannerisms and vocal style of each of the characters extremely well.

    The six episodes follow the lives of 5 nominees for Australian of the Year as they vie to be chosen firstly as state finalists and then as the sole candidate for their state. As the series progresses we learn more about the reality of each character rather than their initial image. The five nominees (all played by Lilley) are:

• Phil from Queensland, an ex-policeman who nominated himself for the award after saving 9 children in a jumping castle accident.
• Ricky from Melbourne, a young Chinese PhD student in physics who has been nominated for developing a very efficient solar panel but really wants to be an actor.
• Ja'mie from Sydney, a teenage school girl who has been nominated for sponsoring a record 85 Sudanese children by doing the 40 hour famine every week.
• Daniel from South Australia, a young farm boy who has donated one of his eardrums to his deaf twin brother, Nathan (also Chris Lilley)
• Pat from Perth, a disabled middle aged housewife who is training to become an elite athlete.

    Some of the characters are intentionally more farcical than others which means that the tones of the stories vary from very satirical to quite poignant. This series has some extremely amusing moments and obviously features significant improvisation from both Lilley and the support cast. To my mind there is not quite enough material here to fill all six episodes, however, that is not to say that it is a major issue. All comedy series are patchy to some degree or another, even great series like Monty Python, especially where improvisation is involved. One of the other great touches in this series is the theme tune which consists of people singing 'G'Day, G'Day'.

    The humour is not politically correct at all, poking fun at political correctness and people who do things for appearance's sake. The series is narrated by Jennifer Byrne which certainly adds to the documentary style.

    A funny series which is also very innovative. Recommended.

Video

    The video quality is very good.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was very clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise. Shadow detail was fine but rarely needed.

    The colour was excellent throughout.

    The only noticeable artefact was aliasing which occurred infrequently and was mild in nature. An example can be seen at 6:09 in Episode 1.

    There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is good.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 224 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync which is the most critical ingredient in a comedy series.

    The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The menu included an intro, music, motion and the ability to select episodes and scenes.

Deleted Scenes/Bloopers

    A mixture of extra material from each of the characters. The material included is split into sections for each character, including:

• Pat (8:25) - Some funny extra improvisations and bloopers featuring Pat. Probably the best of the sections.
• Daniel & Nathan (7:52) - Nothing too special here, more improvisation and bloopers.
• Phil (9:08) - More of Phil's annoying tendencies especially his interactions with his children.
• Ja'mie (9:29) - More Ja'mie including discussion of Boys and tampons (which is slightly off-colour).
• Ricky (8:52) - An interesting set of scenes which explore more fully something which was only hinted at in the series which went to air.

    This series does not seem to be available outside of Region 4, which is not very surprising. The disc is actually coded for all regions.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is good.

    Extras consist of deleted scenes, extra improvisations and bloopers.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall