What Lies in the Hearts of Men
Tuesday, November 11, 2008 at 10:30AM 
With Special Guests:
- John Simpson
- Sue Price
- Warwick Marsh
- Greg Andresen
- Robert Gordon.
This week we covered a great deal of territory, from a fascinating interview with the creative director of a powerful new movie Men’s Group, to International Men’s Day to the debate which has erupted over the potential jailing of men who dare to get a DNA sample of their children without the mother’s permission.
The DNA debate has run on the front pages of the country’s newspapers for days; and demonstrates the fundamental unfairness in the way our family law and child support systems operate. DNA testing was last a hot button issue when the Australian Law Reform Commission tried to foist these laws on to the public six years ago. The Howard government sensibly backed off. Now leftwing academic feminists, who make a living out of pouring dirt on anything that men care about and are in paradise since the last election brought in a Labor government, are at it again, trying to introduce legislation which could jail men for up to two years if they dare to attempt to find out if the child they’re paying for is really theirs. It is nothing short of outrageous.
The argument that these tests should only be conducted with a Family Court order is spurious. Anyone who has ever been near them know how viciously hostile to men the court can be and how obstructionist and expensive they are to anyone seeking natural justice through a DNA test.
We end the show with a description of the worst child support case we’ve ever heard, where the agency sold up a disabled pensioner’s house and gave an $85,000 windfall to the mother, who the kids had long ago stopped living with. The brutality and fundamental dishonesties of this agency desperately need to be exposed to the broader public. More than 4,000 of their clients have died since Kevin Rudd became Prime Minister. More of them will die, many in abject circumstances. The Child Support Agency, still pumping out anti-male propaganda on dead beat dads which is being uncritically regurgitated by sloppy and lazy journalists, should have been shut down long ago. They do more harm than good.
But this we know. This many of us suffer with on a daily basis.
The good news is a powerful new movie Men’s Group.
Men’s Group is the story of six very different men; Paul, Freddy, Cecil, Lucas, Moses and Alex . They meet once a week at Paul’s home to talk. When they begin they are complete strangers.
They soon discover that they have something in common, being male. As trust grows between them they gradually begin to share as they learn to listen to each other. They discover that they are not quite so alone in their fears as they had presumed.
It takes a tragedy for the men to finally understand that they must take responsibilities for their own lives and those of their loved ones.
Men’s Group is the result of a creative collaboration between Director Michael Joy and Creative Producer John L. Simpson.
As a team we wanted to explore some of the unspoken fears and vulnerabilities that many men face, but are unable to voice.
Michael and I both had dear friends who tragically took their own lives, we began to recognise that many Australian men were in crisis. As artists, we wanted to give voice to the many dilemmas and situations men face, particularly in their relationships as partners, sons and fathers.
We wanted the audience to feel empathy for the characters, so it was crucial that the performances were truthful. We also wanted the audience to feel as if they were in the room with the men, not merely observers but participants in the group.
Michael worked with each of the actors, workshopping in isolation over two months; developing their characters from birth till the day they join the Men’s Group.
We then crafted a script that was only given to the heads of departments. The actors were not allowed to see the script, as we wanted to capture their first responses to their lives as they unfolded in real time as the cameras were rolling.
We had 3 cameras rolling during most scenes and everything that you see in the film is the first and only take.
Michael would spend up to 45mins briefing each actor prior to shooting, whispering in their ear what they could reveal in each session.
The performances are nothing short of extraordinary.