Reviewing Harry Brown is a difficult proposition. It’s a solid piece of genre work; it has intriguing characters and strong performances; it’s well-written, the cinematography is excellent, and it’s as taut and suspenseful as any thriller released in the past decade. But on the other hand, it’s a morally reprehensible call to arms for violent retributive justice. However much one enjoys or appreciates the film will depend on one’s ability to stomach the message that the best way to deal with criminal youth is to blow them away with a handgun.
The film revisits familiar ground: an old man taking justice into his own hands in the wake of youth violence entering his neighbourhood. This time, the old man (and title character) is portrayed by the estimable Michael Caine, and the neighbourhood is the troubled Elephant & Castle housing estates in South London. The injustice that he sets out avenge is the murder of his chess partner, Leonard (David Bradley), who was left unaided by the police after being harassed by a gang of youth. Harry Brown, despite suffering from emphysema, happens to be exceptionally good at disposing these wastes of flesh, probably due to the skills he learned as a Royal Marine in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.
Normally this sort of material is superficial to the characters that inhabit it, and the skill with which it is told. But here, I can’t fault either of those qualities. What troubles me most about Harry Brown is the level of sincerity with which director Daniel Barber and screenwriter Gary Young tackle this material. Everything is treated with a righteousness that becomes downright unpleasant. The final scene highlights the fruits of Harry Brown’s vigilante behaviour, but declines to ponder the moral consequences of murdering several young people, even if they are impolite rapists and murderous drug dealers.
It’s impossible to fault this movie on any technical level. Michael Caine delivers an expectedly great performance by successfully embodying the repressed instincts from his days as a serviceman. The muted colour palette, while adding to the weird level of sincere anger in the film, is nonetheless an effective look at the delinquent nightlife of a South London housing project. This is Daniel Barber’s first feature film, and judging by his ability to create tension here, I look forward to his future films and hope that the problematic politics of this film do not become a motif of his career. Yet somehow, all the technical and artistic proficiency just makes me cringe more when I think about the hate-fuelled message this film delivers.
