Sonia Kruger admits views 'extreme'Today Extra response controversy typifies messWaleed Aly defends Today Extra host The director of a new film on the Cronulla riots says the country is more racist now than when that infamous event took place more than a decade ago.Abe Forsythe, whose black comedy Down Under opens next month, says that extreme views being aired publicly have legitimised racist attitudes."When I was writing the script, we weren't talking about this issue," he says. "My initial impulse was to get us talking."Now it's bubbling up but it seems like a lot of people are yelling at each other and not listening to each other."Forsythe says part of the shock of the Cronulla riots in 2005 was that racism seemed more "casual" in Australia. "Now it's like it's festered and everything that's happened in the world is feeding into it and it's turning nastier." The actor-turned-filmmaker says the call by television host Sonia Kruger to ban Muslim immigration is "completely irresponsible" for being the wrong time and the wrong place for such a potentially inflammatory statement. Down Under includes two songs by David Campbell, her co-host on the Nine Network's Today Extra."Sonia's comments are especially unfortunate in the climate that we find ourselves in," Forsythe says.  
"At a time when we need things to bring us together, you have someone saying something that is the most simplistic way of dealing with an issue. "On a practical level, it could never work but all it does is inflame the situation for people that choose not to educate themselves about the issue. If anything, it just gives people more of a reason to feel legitimised in their completely illegitimate thoughts."Down Under, which was warmly received at its world premiere at the Sydney Film Festival last month and is having a gala screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival next month, centres on two cars of hotheads heading out from different parts of Sydney for retaliation the day after the riots.After starting with confronting news footage from the time, it tells a fictional story with a cast headed by Damon Herriman (The Water Diviner), Lincoln Younes (Love Child), Rahel Romahn (Janet King) and Justin Rosniak (Packed To The Rafters).Forsythe, who spent six years bringing Down Under to the screen, says the election of Pauline Hanson to the Senate also shows that racism in Australia is no longer just "casual"."The scary thing about Pauline Hanson is she represents 500,000 people," he says. "In the scheme of things it's a small number but it's significant enough and it highlights a pocket of Australia that needs to be better informed about the issue ... "The movie is about racism and how it basically stems from ignorance. Pauline Hanson's ignorant views foster the kind of racism that a percentage of our population can get behind in a group and feel safe."Despite racism becoming worse, Forsythe believes more conflict is not inevitable. "The best of avoiding a repeat of the Cronulla riots is by talking about the issue for a start and informing the conversation in a way so that we're listening to each other and not just shouting over each other," he says."The intent of the movie was to play into that conversation."Down Under opens on   August 11.