THE FIRM
UK, 2009, 90 minutes, Colour.
Paul Anderson, Calum Mc Nab, Daniel Mays, Camille Coduri, Doug Allen, Eddie Webber.
Directed by Nick Love.
Not to be mistaken for the Grisham/Cruise thriller, this is a London-set drama about football hooliganism. It is a screen adaptation of a television film of the 1980s with Gary Oldman as the bullying leader of his 'firm' of local club supporters, a gang of brawling louts and directed by Alan Clark. Love has already made The Football Factory and has been interested in tough, even brutal, stories about bellicose men: The Business, Outlaw.
It is not as if there have not been many television and film portraits of this ugly side of British football life (Greenstreet, Awaydays...) as well as news items when this kind of violence breaks out. The British have had a bad reputation, but they are not the only country whose fans indulge in rough play off the pitch.
At first, this seems to be like many another similar story: Bex (Paul Anderson), is the big man in the area (job, estate agent), with wife and child, but whose anger and energy go into clashes with a rival film (leader played by Daniel Mays). He has a loyal following who band together at the pub, get their bats and knives, try to avoid the police and turn up at hotels or Underground stations where their rivals are expected to be.
In the neighbourhood are two lads, one of whom insults Bex and finds that they are both targets for violence. The other boy, Dom, (Calum Mc Nab) apologises and gets on Bex's good side and follows him as a role model (in violence and in clothing fashion). Is Dom really this kind of follower and will he stay in Bex's good graces?
This is what makes the film more interesting than expected. Anderson's Bex is a monster and the actor's performance is entirely credible and frightening. But, with the focus on Dom (and his nice but ineffectual parents), the moral dilemma is well dramatised – pressure and expectations, the experience of ridicule and humiliation, to be violent or not.
Filmed in and around London, this may not be everybody's kind of story but, it is strong and topical stuff.
1.A film for a British audience? Football fans and club members? The image of the clubs and their rivalries, the violence? For non-British audiences?
2.The impact of the hooligans, the history of football violence, clashes off the pitch, the police?
3.The film’s attitude towards violence? The reflection on the decades of football hooliganism? The original film, a remake for the cinemas?
4.The title, the clubs, the fans, the firms as providing a community, a cause, an outlet for energies? Loyalties, leaders? The sense of belonging? Laws? Aggression and violence?
5.Bex as the leader, his age, the background of his life, real estate agent work, his wife and son, ordinary home? Getting up early, his clothes, the football, going to the pub? The friends, the group? The rivalry with Yeti? The phone calls, the clashes? The build-up to the fight – and the police presence?
6.Bex at home, his job, showing people round the house? His thug attitudes? At the pub, smug, a bully? His wife, the dancing? His aims in life, with the firm? Taking personal offence?
7.Dom and Trigger, watching the world go by, spitting, getting the man to hit the post? No aims in life? Trigger and his clash with Bex, being hurt? Dom going to the pub and offering an apology, Bex being impressed, accepting it, protecting Dom?
8.Dom and Trigger as friends, falling out, Dom and his work with his dad, avoiding the work, knowing how to get money out of his father? His relationship with his mother and her support? Going out, the firm as a community, meeting with Bex, the buying of the sneakers, the red tracksuit, his parents’ reaction? His behaviour at home? His being mocked because of the red tracksuit, humiliated? His staying with the group? His feeling befriended? Trigger, his character, tough – and being ousted from friendship?
9.Bex and the others, the other leaders, their age, experience, tough? The group being caught by Yeti and his men, the bashings, the smashing of the car? Bex going to see Snowy, Snowy having a life beyond the firm, careful about his family? Bex and his wanting revenge, unable to let go his vindictiveness?
10.The roundup, his wife calling him a bully, his commanding his troops, commanding Dom, their assembling for the final fight?
11.Dom, the experience with the group, his change of attitude, despite his sense of belonging, his questioning?
12.The ambushing of Yeti, the vicious attack, the knife, Yeti knifing Bex?
13.Dominic watching, his decision to leave, finding Trigger again, renewing the friendship? The effect of this experience?
14.Audience interest in the characters, the moral journey of Dom, the image of violence in Bex? Sympathies or not?
