Most commonly reviewed on the basis that it represents '80's Britain' and is 'Britain how I remembered it' this is a story of Trevor the 16 year old skinhead who has no respect for authority, anarchistic tendencies as a result of a misspent youth with no father figure, and a mean racist streak. This is supposed to be Britain in the 80's? well if that's the case I think it's a very tunnelled view.
I don't see all this as the main drive behind the film. I see it as more a story of what can happen to kids who stray from the path and get thrown into the system and struggle to get out. The impressive (what seemed like 15 minute)scene in the assessment centre where the officer chalks out Trevors options on the blackboard was really sad and made you realise how difficult he had made things for himself and how he was close to the point of no return. In this sense the film isn't stuck in the 80's and that's why I feel it is still relevant today.
Tim Roth was excellent and you can see why such a performance got him noticed.
It's not a long film, but doesn't need to be. They could've quite easily added an extra 20 minutes onto the end of the film to make it feature length, but the way it ended was a great example of letting the viewers make up their own mind about what was eventually going to happen to Trevor.
As much of a despicable character Trevor is you do feel sorry for him. Actually it's more like pity and you really are left thinking that, like many other nut cases on the street, he's going to end up a victim of the system because of his behaviour at such a young and vulnerable age
I don't see all this as the main drive behind the film. I see it as more a story of what can happen to kids who stray from the path and get thrown into the system and struggle to get out. The impressive (what seemed like 15 minute)scene in the assessment centre where the officer chalks out Trevors options on the blackboard was really sad and made you realise how difficult he had made things for himself and how he was close to the point of no return. In this sense the film isn't stuck in the 80's and that's why I feel it is still relevant today.
Tim Roth was excellent and you can see why such a performance got him noticed.
It's not a long film, but doesn't need to be. They could've quite easily added an extra 20 minutes onto the end of the film to make it feature length, but the way it ended was a great example of letting the viewers make up their own mind about what was eventually going to happen to Trevor.
As much of a despicable character Trevor is you do feel sorry for him. Actually it's more like pity and you really are left thinking that, like many other nut cases on the street, he's going to end up a victim of the system because of his behaviour at such a young and vulnerable age