This is a movie about racism, and contains a lot of ugly epithets, so fair warning: if you think you've learned enough about this subject to give this nasty little film a miss, you're not missing out on much.
One could be forgiven for assuming that the trajectory of this sort of story is the lead character, a thoroughly unlikable stain of a human being, becomes hip to the consequences of his ugly mind, and attains some kind of enlightenment about bigotry -- or something along these lines.
This is not what happens.
The youth's parents are more progressive than he is, and by far my favorite part of the movie is where the lead character's father, played by Donald Pleasence, punches his son in the face.
The breaking of tension when, finally, this walking subtraction of a human being gets clocked by his mild-mannered, rabbit-raising father, far exceeds any satisfaction one might get at the end of the film. The film kind of drifts after this scene without any real payout at the end.
This is one of those kitchen sink films, with English people Englishing hard. Maybe I'm just sore because I ordinarily like this sort of thing, but the only really likeable characters in this are Pleasence and his daughter. The mother seems redeemable. The main character and his moronic friends (one played by a young, naive-looking David Hemmings) are not.
I think where this misses the mark is the anonymity of the poor victim of all of this. It's not really about him or the fact that he's been senselessly murdered by a bunch of dolts, but, rather, the consequences to the white characters around him, as if the main reason one should not be a bigot is the consequences that the bigot himself might face.
That's what's off about this film. We barely get to know the victim, and that's sad. He's a plot device.
The film looks good; the black-and-white suits it. Pleasence is excellent here as he always is. The rest of the acting is alright, and if you enjoy feeling contempt, you'll like Johnny Briggs's performance here. This is about as unsympathetic a performance as you're likely to find.
You won't learn anything, and I don't believe you'll walk away feeling enriched. The film meant well, but missed the mark.
One could be forgiven for assuming that the trajectory of this sort of story is the lead character, a thoroughly unlikable stain of a human being, becomes hip to the consequences of his ugly mind, and attains some kind of enlightenment about bigotry -- or something along these lines.
This is not what happens.
The youth's parents are more progressive than he is, and by far my favorite part of the movie is where the lead character's father, played by Donald Pleasence, punches his son in the face.
The breaking of tension when, finally, this walking subtraction of a human being gets clocked by his mild-mannered, rabbit-raising father, far exceeds any satisfaction one might get at the end of the film. The film kind of drifts after this scene without any real payout at the end.
This is one of those kitchen sink films, with English people Englishing hard. Maybe I'm just sore because I ordinarily like this sort of thing, but the only really likeable characters in this are Pleasence and his daughter. The mother seems redeemable. The main character and his moronic friends (one played by a young, naive-looking David Hemmings) are not.
I think where this misses the mark is the anonymity of the poor victim of all of this. It's not really about him or the fact that he's been senselessly murdered by a bunch of dolts, but, rather, the consequences to the white characters around him, as if the main reason one should not be a bigot is the consequences that the bigot himself might face.
That's what's off about this film. We barely get to know the victim, and that's sad. He's a plot device.
The film looks good; the black-and-white suits it. Pleasence is excellent here as he always is. The rest of the acting is alright, and if you enjoy feeling contempt, you'll like Johnny Briggs's performance here. This is about as unsympathetic a performance as you're likely to find.
You won't learn anything, and I don't believe you'll walk away feeling enriched. The film meant well, but missed the mark.