In the Real World

For 16 year olds, Jerome and Mariette, wars were events of history and faraway countries, until, during an Anzac Day family reunion, their boys-against-girls prank ‘war’ gets totally out of hand. – “It was run by hormones”, Grandpa Will says.
To make matters worse, Jerome, who is forced to move in with his cousin while his father is in hospital, feels like a prisoner in enemy camps.
But it is not just Jerome who becomes the victim of Mariette’s need for revenge. Soon the entire school is involved, with the students standing together against the oppression of uniforms and busy work.
For a while, it seems they will finally get their voice heard, but is rebellion the solution and can they maintain their solidarity once the school involves the police?
In a lesson that can only be learned in the real world, they begin to see that it isn’t the acts of people, but their emotions that are ultimately responsible for the choice between war and peace.