A dark and fascinating short film about a New Zealand gang member

What’s more terrifying than a street gang? I’ll tell you, a Maori gang called the Mighty Mongrel Mob. In this haunting short film by filmmaker and photographer Tom Gould we are thrown into the personal history of famed Mighty Mongrel Mob gang member Martyka Brandt, whose tattoo-covered and weathered face speaks volumes of his turbulent life. In this short film we learn about the perils of being in a gang like the Mongrel Mob, the near-death experiences Martyka has escaped, and how a man can truly turn his life around to something rather magical indeed.

“From being admitted to a mental institution at the age of 14, escaping and living a life of Mongrelism, Martyka’s life drastically changed as he began to raise his own family, later becoming a solo father raising 10 children through welfare and foster care,” Tom’s blurb tells us. What a perfect example of finding an insanely intriguing story and making it into a perfect, hard-hitting short film. Filmmakers, take note of this.