STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs
Based on a true story,this is set in Bermondsey,South East London in the August of 1997.After a heavy night on the booze,17 year old Jamie Robe (Calum Callaghan) is walking home with his sister's girlfriend near the Osprey Estate.Along the way,he makes a slightly off-the-cuff remark to a nearby boy who is enjoying a snog with a girl,who we will later come to know as Tracy Brown (Stephanie Leonides).This results in the boy,and a whole gang of local youths,setting on him with a barrage of baseball bats and pool cues,beating him to death.There were no end of witnesses to the murder,but no one said a thing for fear of what the gang might do to them.However,thanks to the courage of some reliable witnesses in the shape of the conscience-ridden Tracy and some local Turkish fish shop owners,and the determination of both Jamie's father,Stuart (James Nesbitt) and Detective Tony Cottis (Philip Davis) the guilty party are eventually brought to justice and made to feel the full wait of their burden.
This is a powerful and thoroughly engrossing true life tale,boosted no end by thoughtful,realistic performances from all the cast members (Nesbitt especially) and a forboding sense of reality in the way it is told and conveyed.Indeed,in one scene,Det Cottis appears baffled when a prominent colleague informs him of the potential motive for the murder,only to then be told "it's nothing exceptional in East London these days."Indeed,this does bear a ring of truth to it,as it would seem many similar incidents are reported in the news and in tabloids each day.This was almost certainly just one case of many,but what made it stand out so much was the demonstration of how good,decent,respectable people can triumpth over lawless thugs if the right human qualities are shown.Of said thugs,none of them are ever delved in to as characters and,after the murder scene,are only ever shown in passing standing around looking menacing at certain people or spitting abuse in their loutish way,but this is okay as this only serves to highlight them as the lawless,remoseless types they are,without any redeeming qualities shown to neutralize the audience's loathing of them.
This is based on a true story,and it has been crafted with meticulous perfection to appear this way,with believable real characters in a believably (not to mention frighteningly) real situation.Without brilliant performances and a fine script though,this may never have shone through,and it only serves to prove that this is true of this that it is as riveting as it is.****
