Review of Neds (2010) by Ed F — 27 Jan 2011

Charting the degenerative effects gang culture has on an academically promising youth in 1970's Glagow, Peter Mullan's gruelling latest film, in which he also has a small role, is a compelling and at times incredibly hard film to watch, featuring scenes of intense violence that are matched by an incredibly bleak tone.

Narratively speaking, Neds resembles Shane Meadow's faultless This is England (2006) ('This is Scotland'?) in that it focuses on the way society plays a major part in the damaging of youth and young adulthood, but although it doesn't share it's scope, Mullan's film is culturally relevant in its own right. Much has been said, somewhat negatively, of how rapidly the protagonist John McGill 'turns' from being an A grade student to a thuggish rebel, but I found it to be a realistic examination of youth culture, an examination that can all to easily be seen in our everyday lives (especially at that age). Mullan clearly has a lot to say about the impracticalities of 1970's Glasgow, how poverty was rife and how young people turned to gang culture as a way of purging the harshities of their home lives. Though Mullan never glorifies violence, the fight sequences are gritty and harrowing, yet never gratuitous and always tastefully shot, exemplifying that some actions do have their own set of consequences.

Though not for the faint of heart, Neds is slightly overlong but powerful viewing nonetheless.