Reviews: Scotland's For Me!
SWEET SIXTEEN
Director: Ken Loach
Out on DVD; Available to rent or buy.
This is, in short, the most well acted, well- written and emotive drama I have seen in a very long time. The dialogue is heartwarming and realistic, the plot at times hilariously funny and at times gutwrenchingly sad, but always adept at striking a chord with the viewer. The protagonist, Liam, is a 15 year old boy growing up in Greenock, an impoverished town in Scotland. His mother is in prison, with her impending release set to be the day of his sixteenth birthday, and he's determined to make enough money to buy her, his sister, his nephew and himself a place to stay away from his abusive step-dad and his uncaring grandfather. He begins selling heroin and before long finds himself "in with the big boys," over his head and out of his depth as he sinks deeper into a murky world of crime. Watching this film, I found myself really feeling for Liam's plight, faced with an endless list of unbelievably difficult decisions and only really wanting what anyone his age wants: the love of a supportive family, friends, a place to stay, a bit of money and a mum who isn't a smackhead. The ending is unexpected and poignant, adding more bleak and gritty truth to an already spectacular film.
Everyone should see this film. Its definitely made a latest new entry in my top 10.
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MARABOU STORK NIGHTMARES
Author: Irvine Welsh
Book
Welsh is the author of two of my favourite books of all time, Trainspotting and Glue. Having just finished this novel, and thus having just completed all of Welsh's works of fiction, I must say I liked this least; although, that is not to say I disliked it, I just favour his other novels more highly. Welsh sticks to his usual themes of sex, drugs, violence, death and growing up in Edinburgh, but with this novel also throws in a bit of paedophilia, rape, comas, growing up in South Africa, racism, and the surreal nature of reality. It slips a few sneaky philosophical points in between all the casuals "swedgin'" at the football matches and bad experiences with psychadelic drugs. This book is truly profound in places, making the reader ponder the recesses of the human psyche and the dark things that lurk there, what happens when the id takes over, and one I mulled over for hours; could you actually bring yourself to hurt or rape someone whilst on ecstacy? There are shafts of light within which I can truly identify with the main character, despite how removed he is from myself (he's a rapist who is stubbornly refusing to come out of his coma, the novel is told from his point of view) and in my opinion, this is a surefire sign of a good book. However, I also found this novel the most painful of all of his fiction to get through, including the story in ecstasy about the philidamide girl who gets revenge on the chemists by hacking their arms off. The passages depicting graphic gang rape and the uneasy references to the protagonist's uncle's sexual molestation of him as a young boy, as well as the violent cruelty and abuse committed against both animals and humans made this book a somewhat tough read, even actually making it quite hard for me to have sex for a few days afterwards. However Welsh still writes with a gritty beauty and unrivaled social realism that keep me hooked, unable to put it down (even whilst reading through the cracks in my fingers and stopping briefly to throw up at the end when it all got too much for me and justice took its gruesome revenge-- no, really) and I cannot wait for Irvine Welsh to write something new.