Whilst avoiding ads on TV watching the Terminator last night I switched often to Harry Brown on another channel.
Harry Brown, played by Michael Caine, is a 2009 film about Britain's feral youth and old aged pensioners and the fatal results of them meeting. Its also about quiet determination in the face of adversity - that 'make do' and 'can do' spirit of the War generation and the one that followed, suffering the rigours of ration book Britain after saving the world. Its sad really seeing Harry in his small place, alone after his beloved wife dies, tying his shoes slowly and accurately as he does with his tie to meet his chess partner len.
When Len is stabbed by said Feral Youths the scene is set for a lethal confrontation between the drug-addled yobs and the once law-abiding Harry. You can guess the rest.
Harry Brown is part of that film sub-genre called Hoodie Horrors, itself a tiny part of the much bigger Rebellious Youth theme, which has been around as old as film itself.
Hoodie Horrors seemed to have been the exploitative end of a drip-feed process of demonising young people in the UK the last few decades, to the point where Yobs, ASBO's [anti-social behaviour order], Chavs and SUS [stop under suspicion] became everyday language.
The sub-genre, unsurprisingly, has thrown up some extremes, from the gory Eden Lake set in the woods to Attack the Block, set in, well you know. All exploit the seemingly stark border between the morally-bereft children of the working class with the clear moral-compass of the either the older generation or the middle class. You can just see the headlines, which the film-makers were tapping into.
Another twist on the sub-genre is what you might call the Guiding Hand or the One Man Army, where the protagonist, eyeing the trouble from the porch, eventually steps in like Rambo to save at least one of the brazen teens from certain immoral oblivion.
Two films spring to mind, the American Gran Torino, 2009, with Clint himself constantly polishing his classic car,, keeping what he has worked hard for in tip-top condition, whilst simultaneously cleaning up the neighbourhood of unruly, lazy, never-done-a-proper-days-work gangbangers and rescuing his chosen 'good boy' from the needle-strewn abyss.
The Equaliser, 2014, fills the same brave shoes, with Denzel breaking off from his spartan 'make do' life of reading Moby Dick and washing up his one knife and fork to going head to toe with anyone and everyone who hurts his chosen youth-worth-saving, in this case a Russian-mafia American call-girl who eats soup with him at his midnight diner night-owl style
I'm sure you can think of many more Hoodie Horrors and Rebellious Youth movies and maybe even novels across the decades. Let us know readers.
Right, I'm off to polish my dinky cars.
