Collaborate, Network & Discuss Screen Projects - You can enter SEO keywords here

The Minority is a feature film set in a generic Western nation and centred on Charles Wittman, an unlikely first term Member of Parliament.

The Minority starts with an explosion that kills the PM and her Cabinet followed by the brutal police interrogation of Charles, who is accused of orchestrating this act of terrorism.

Jump back 7 months and Charles is being admonished by the PM for speaking against their government’s budget, the second since the National Party (a centre right party) regained government after 12 years of Democrat (centre left) rule. 

The PM’s dilemma is that she only has a one seat majority in the House of Represenatives and a vote against the budget by Charles would see her two year old government collapse.

Charles:

-        late forties,

-        widower with 2 young daughters,

-        an ex-soldier,

-        ex-factory worker and union delegate,

-        unemployed for 3 years before winning his traditionally safe Democrats seat  for the Nationals against the odds,

-        spoke against the budget because it didn’t deliver on promised tax cuts that he believes will drive investment, resurrect manufacturing, and deliver the jobs his high-unemployment constituents need. 

For speaking against the budget Charles is pursued by Judy Marcotte, a sexy political journalist, and a group of businessmen led by Victor Watt, the industrialist who retrenched Charles and 500 other workers 5 years earlier.

Victor  wants Charles to lead a new political party that will cut taxes and government spending by 50% which Victor says will resurrect manufacturing and employment.  Charles dislikes Victor intensely and doesn’t trust him, and dismisses as unrealistic the idea of cutting government expenditure by half.

At the end of a trying day Charles has a few pints with two old Army friends at a pub.  The three of them drunkenly suggest democracy has created a cycle of ever increasing political promises, spending and debt, and that the way to fix the political mess is to kill the incompetent politicians (which is all of them) and start again.  This conversation is taped by Judy.

Despite Charles opposing the budget (and the opposition of the Greens who hold the balance of power in the Senate), the budget is passed in both Houses when the Government does a deal with the opposition Democrats.

This pushes Charles to accept Victor’s offer and start the new Political Party. 

At the Party launch Charles announces a Tax Strike, to “show both the National Party and Democrats that the productive minority have had enough of excessive taxation and government spending waste”. 

At the Party launch Julia also privately reveals to Charles that she taped the “kill the politicians” conversation and demands exclusive access to Charles for a week.  This leads to an uneasy attraction & relationship between the two.

The strike slowly starts to work and over several months the government’s revenue is severely impacted.  To push the blame back on Charles the PM decides to cut government services and payments, causing demonstrations that lead to riots and eventually some deaths.  At this point the PM orders the arrest of Charles and all Tax Strikers.

The final act is fast paced as Charles is arrested for the tax strike, Charles is threatened by the Treasurer, the Treasurer dies, the Cabinet is blown up, and Charles is arrested again because the police get a copy of Judy’s tape and assume Charles and/or his highly trained Army friends are responsible for the assassination of the Ministers.