Content Starts Here
Liam Film Review
LIAM
Running time: 90 mins
Starring: Ian Hart, Claire Hackett, Anne Reid, Anthony Borrows, David Hart, Russell Dixon, Megan Burns
If there's been a strategy to director Stephen Frears' career, it's been to avoid being pigeonholed. The man has made a point of alternating his high profile Hollywood successes such as Dangerous Liasons and The Grifters with the distinctly low key fare of work like The Snapper. Here he follows the mainstream upbeat charm of his last film, High Fidelity, with the dour grit of Liam.
Set in depression ravaged Liverpool of the 1930s, Liam shows the corrosive affects of poverty on a family as seen through the eyes of the youngest child, the insular seven year-old Liam. Dealing passionately and at times melodramatically with issues of religion and racism, Liam is a powerful and moving drama that highlights the fortitude and frailty of human spirit in the face of unrelenting hardship.
It's interesting to note that Frears turned down the opportunity to direct Angela's Ashes in order to do Liam which, although sharing similar themes, he felt had more substance. Jimmy McGovern's uncompromising script, based on Joseph McKeown's 'The Back Crack Boy', methodically dissects a family's unity as the pressures of depravation rapidly erode their self worth.
Things begin to go wrong from the moment Dad, played with an exacting blend of determination and desperation by the always brilliant Ian Hart, loses his job at the shipyard. With three kids and a wife to support, the pressure to provide for them brings his sense of failure into conflict with his tenuous dignity. His Catholic faith, a previous source of pride, becomes the focus of his anger as it imposes what he considers to be unreasonable financial demands on the family. This causes friction between Dad and Mum (Claire Hackett), who is equally determined to maintain appearances and her allegiance to the church by providing Liam (Anthony Borrows) with a suitable outfit with which to attend his first communion.
The film repeatedly questions the relevance of religion. The impassioned sermons Liam and his classmates are subjected to on the perils of sin were intended to invoke fear, but when delivered with sadistic fervour by Mrs Abernathy (Anne Reid) and Father Ryan (Russell Dixon), the result provides the film with some welcome light relief.
As poverty grips tighter, dad's resentment takes a more sinister turn when he joins the burgeoning fascist movement in an effort to expel the local Jews who he feels have contributed to his downfall. This sudden shift away from the domestic towards the political may have been done to illustrate the extent desperate people feel compelled to go when threatened, but its conclusion relies too heavily on symbolism and coincidence. The effect is to unbalance the small scale and simpler aspirations of the film, which is at its best when dealing with the wide-eyed innocence of the curious Liam as he tries to overcome his stutter and obsession with naked women.
Liam is a beautifully crafted film, with wonderful performances, particularly form Hart and the debuting Borrows. While its bleak evocation of a period and a place yield little in the way of joy, one will emerge with a greater understanding of both allied to an uplifting appreciation of those who were there.
Font size
Mail
My account
Help
Community
Print now
Send to a friend
Related articles
Related products
