The Triangle Wars (M). Director: Rosie Jones. 90 minutes
At one tip of an island of crown land, sandwiched between The Esplanade and Jacka Boulevard in the Melbourne bayside suburb St Kilda, sits the vaguely decrepit yet still impressive Palais Theatre. Spitting distance from the parted lips of Luna Park's monolithic guardian, Moonface, this art deco theatre remains one of Melbourne's most popular music venues, due in no small part to its charming Baroque interior and sublime accoustics.
This charmed and charming venue was at the heart of one of the most heated development controversies in recent memory. The Victorian heritage listed building is in need of serious surgery. During the past decade the local council sought to discharge responsibility for its resurrection to a private developer. He would, in turn, be permitted to develop the adjacent land (currently consisting mostly of a car park) for commercial use.
The Triangle Wars documents the public outrage that erupted around this proposed development of the so-called St Kildia Triangle, described by one protester who wrote to Eureka Street as 'four levels of parking, retail, pubs and night clubs'. It would, detractors felt, destroy favourite views of Luna Park, the Palais and the bay, and turn St Kilda's unassuming heart into a kind of hedonistic, commercialistic mecca.
Rosie Jones' documentary largely eschews explicit commentary or investigative endeavour. It draws its energy from the passion and emotion that surrounded this fraught dispute. Oppostition to the redovelopment seems occasionally over the top (one protester laments the 'immorality' of blighting the foreshore) or even hysterical (fear of the 'drunks' and 'druggies' the new precinct will attract) but is always compelling.
The film is sympathetic to the protesters, crystalised around the lobby group UnChain St Kilda who represent the concerns of thousands of locals, and spruiked by celebrity supporters including actor Rachel Griffiths (whose mother Anna is one of the main players in the protest movement) and comedian Dave Hughes.
By contrast, the councillors who support the redevelopment are given little chance to defend themselves. Their motives are questioned, but these aspersions remain untested by the fimmakers.
But to some extent their motives are beside the point. This is a story about 'the people' confronting government powers they feel have lost sight of the interests of those they are supposed to represent. Certainly the redevelopment was pursued with scant community consultation and with little attention given to the concerns that were raised. In this respect