Review of Liam (2001) by Brian P — 09 Jan 2005

Liam (2001) - "Can anyone tell me what sin does? Apart from blackening your soul, apart form smearing you beautiful white souls with filth, can anyone tell me what sin does?" Liam's Catholic School teacher.

Two children, one an adorable little boy with a speech impediment, and their family struggle to survive amid England's 1930's depression, the children awash in a cult-like atmosphere of the Catholic church school and the growing fascism of the era, both for the Jews who ran the pawn shops and collected the rents, and for the Irish who were willing to work for nearly nothing at all.

It�s hard to imagine a world like that, but Stephen Frears did a fine job with Jimmy McGovern's screenplay and I had no trouble internalizing the times. There's no redemption in this story as the family's situation moves from bad to worse. It was a black time for England and, mercifully, the story ends abruptly, which had me studying the sleeve to see if there was a second disk. The kids put on quite a performance and the acting was solid all around. I enjoyed the film, despite the depressing topic.