There was a sudden, brief silence when the credits rolled at the Echuca premiere of The Policewoman on Saturday 17 October. And then came the standing ovation.
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For the 169 people packed into Echuca Paramount’s cinema 4, The Policewoman was not just another documentary. It was a deeply personal and confronting story about the rise and fall of former Victoria Police detective Narelle Fraser, told on the big screen in front of the community which helped shape it.
Among the sold-out crowd were Fraser’s family, friends and former colleagues. Even Rochester GP Eji Ekeanyanwu, who diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Familiar landmarks, including Echuca’s historic Loco Shed, Moama Bowling Club and Ms Fraser’s Rochester district home, brought the story even closer to home.
For Dr Ekeanyanwu, watching the documentary reinforced his admiration for Fraser.
“My impression of the documentary is the same as my impression of Narelle — remarkable,” he said.
“The documentary captured her whole story — the resilience, the ability to pivot and rise again after being knocked down by a serious condition and, more importantly, her humour and extraordinary storytelling ability.”
In a genre saturated with true crime, The Policewoman cuts through the noise with a refreshingly different perspective, telling the story through the eyes of the woman who lived it.
Ms Fraser is captured in all her raw, genuine, down-to-earth and deeply empathetic humanity despite the inhumanity she was exposed to day after day. Watching her pain unfold is visceral.
That is what sets this documentary apart. It doesn’t just show us the horrors of crime, it makes us feel the human cost of witnessing it.
Director Claire Pasvolsky captures Ms Fraser’s raw, down-to-earth humanity and empathy despite the horrors she witnessed throughout her 27-year policing career, including four years stationed at Kyabram.
The documentary follows the detective who once considered herself “superwoman” as the cumulative trauma of investigating horrific crimes begins to overwhelm her.
The confession of the Box Hill rapist. The smell of burning flesh after a young woman set herself alight. The discovery of Maria Korp’s body in a car boot. Child abuse material she was forced to review repeatedly as part of her job.
Each experience adds another drop to the metaphorical bottle Ms Fraser describes carrying until, eventually, it overflows.
“My world was imploding,” she said.
For local viewers, one of the most poignant moments comes when Fraser reaches breaking point and seeks help from Dr Ekeanyanwu in Rochester.
The diagnosis changes the course of her life, marking the beginning of a difficult journey towards recovery.
For the doctor, seeing himself on the big screen was an unusual experience.
“It was surreal seeing myself on screen. The director captured the essence of my little contribution and, at the same time, highlighted what PTSD is in my appearance,” he said.
Ms Pasvolsky spent eight years bringing Ms Fraser’s story to the screen, using intricate miniature sets and dreamlike sequences to reconstruct memories and convey the fragmented nature of trauma without sensationalising the crimes themselves.
The result is an intimate portrayal of the invisible injuries that can accompany frontline work, exploring the flashbacks, triggers, loss of identity and lasting psychological toll that can follow exposure to trauma.
Despite everything she endured, Ms Fraser remains fiercely proud of her career and the people she helped.
“The good far outweighs the bad,” she said.
Dr Ekeanyanwu hopes audiences take away a message of resilience and the courage to rebuild when life takes an unexpected turn.
“As I tell Narelle, when one door closes, another opens. You just have to have the courage to walk through it,” he said.
“Narelle did.”
He said he could not be prouder of what Fraser had achieved and her contribution to humanity and the community.
That tension between purpose and sacrifice sits at the heart of The Policewoman and makes it impossible to forget.
The Policewoman will screen at Echuca Paramount from November 5.