Gary Oldman’s debut as director is a brutal and harrowing movie based on his own upbringing in South London. His father was an alcoholic, a condition that he inherited and subsequently overcame. Oldman’s breaking of the cycle of hurt and self-abuse is at odds with his fictional characters who show little capacity for such change.
At the heart of the story is Raymond (Ray Winstone) who is a split personality – sometimes physically violent and verbally abusive and at other times just verbally abusive.
As a portrayal of worst aspects of male behaviour it is unforgettable and at times hard to watch. His existence consists of heavy drinking, chain smoking, petty crime, drug taking and wife beating and is so relentlessly dire that it’s nigh on to impossible to find any glimmer of hope. The ending adds a very thin sugar coating but only because by that point Oldham probably thought the audience had endured enough.
The title refers to the instructions to nurses of Raymond’s sick father and is used as a reference to the inability of the characters to articulate their true feelings or express any emotional warmth. The expletive count puts ‘fuck’ well past the 400 mark while some sad soul has counted 41 uses of ‘cunt’. You’re unlikely to see it before the BBC watershed!
The hand held camerawork gives the movie a documentary feel so it’s as claustrophobic on the small screen as it would be if viewed in the cinema. Winstone is scarily convincing and Kathy Burke as his long suffering wife and Charlie Creed-Miles as the young addict Billy are also superb.
It’s a warts and all movie that is both uncompromising and depressingly realistic.
