This Australian cop drama takes on race and culture in the diverse population of Sydney as it follows the story of Zane Malik (Don Hany), a first generation Arab-Australian Muslim on Sydney’s Major Crime Squad, and his superior officer Ray Crowley (William McInnes), an old-school bigot. Crowley’s default position is to target every non-white suspect, and he clashes with Malik, who constantly challenges his assumptions. Malik is driven in part by guilt--he blames himself for the death of his father and is searching for his father’s killer--while Crowley is on his own crusade to find the drug dealer who sold a fatal dose to his son. East West 101 presents a much more diverse portrait of Sydney than most Aussie police dramas, from the affluent and largely white eastern suburbs to the poorer neighborhoods of west Sydney where the Arab, Chinese, Indonesians, Bosnians, and pretty much every culture from the South Pacific diaspora are centered. The show confronts the collision of cultures both between the various ethnic groups and within individuals who are struggling to reconcile their own traditions and beliefs with Australian society. East West 101 ran for three seasons in Australia to critical acclaim but is not well-known to American audiences. Compiling all six episodes from the 2007-08 first season, extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)
East West 101: Series 1
Acorn, 2 discs, 324 min., not rated, DVD: $39.99 Volume 33, Issue 3
East West 101: Series 1
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