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Robert is a young man who seems to have something going for
him, except that his peer group appear to consist of brain
dead Neanderthals, who spend their time swearing, engaging
in violence and swearing. When Larry returns to the seaside
town he quickly draws Robert and his Chav friends into a life
of drugs...
The
Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael (2005)
was directed by Thomas Clay and written by Clay and Joseph
Lang.
The
film obviously sets out to shock with its scenes of drug taking,
rape and a very colourful, if limited, use of the English
language. The problem is that Clay paints his characters with
so little sympathy that the majority of the audience will
find it difficult to get past the poor acting, the long drawn
out plot - well as much plot as there was - and the shear
unpleasantness of most of the characters. After a tooth pulling
hour and a half watching the film I wasn't sure if I just
didn't care or if I cared enough to seal the windows and gas
the lot of them, really it should have been entitled Scum
II.
I guess that I was supposed to be taken aback by the level
of violence, but violence for violence sake is little more
than vulgar pornography, which is what we have been presented
here. Not that I'm against violence in film, used to make
a point or even to entertain it has a valid place in many
films. Sure, you could see that showing the start of the Iraq
war on the television during the first rape scene is trying
to highlight that violence in society brutalises us all, but
it is presented with so little subtlety that Clay might just
as well have had his main protagonist wearing it on a T-shirt
as a slogan.
The thing which I most disliked about the film is that it
never explores the role of personal choice or responsibility
in the young people's lives. I'm not suggesting that we live
in some fictitious middle-class land where everyone has an
equal start in life, but nobody forces you to take drugs,
regardless of peer pressure and nobody certainly condones
rape and murder. To suggest that these are problems created
by a heartless society and not a choice that the characters
should take responsibility for is not only simplistic but
also an insult to those who do their best to create a good
life for them and their children.
The film does have its good point. Clay obviously knows how
to use a camera and, from its composition its use of music,
this is a very technically accomplished film. The film comes
with a reasonable set of audio option: stereo, 5.1 and DTS.
On the extras front there is the original theatrical trailer
and a generous twenty-five minute feature with Clay and Joseph
Lang talking about how they came to be interested in making
films and the genesis of Robert Carmichael.
Even with the extras, this is a film by someone who is just
starting out in his craft and as such has much to commend
it for its technical aspects, but little else. Though if watching
moronic Chav's take drugs, raping and killing people is your
bag then this just might be a film for you. My copy is going
straight in the bin.
Charles
Packer
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