Review of The Selfish Giant (2013) by Alfin N — 25 Dec 2013

In an attempt to calm down his best friend Arbor(Conner Chapman), Swifty(Shaun Thomas) takes him for a midnight ride on a horse. Along the way, they steal some copper cable which utility workers had already appropriated for their own profit and sell it to Kitten(Sean Gilder), a scrap dealer. That money comes in handy for the truancy fine Arbor's mother(Rebecca Manley) has to pay. However, she does not become fully suspicious until the boys try to wash their own clothes. That is not the end of their troubles as Arbor is expelled from school for defending Swifty from a group of bullies who in turn is suspended for ten days.

Written and directed by Clio Barnard, "The Selfish Giant" is an exacting, beautifully filmed and timeless tale of an upside down world where children attempt to take care of the adults, aging too quickly in the bargain. A sign of this is industrial decay resulting in the desperation that leads to people like those in Detroit stripping the infrastructure of whatever is not nailed down. Even with all of that going on, Swifty finds his opportunity from the most unlikeliest of sources. The tragedy of Arbor who is both hero and villain is that he never stops long enough to consider all the ramifications of his actions.