| Gary
Oldman, whose acting career was launched playing the
heroin-addicted Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy, and carried
on being cast as the stereotypical junkie or mean drug
dealer in American films, has made an impressive directorial
debut with Nil By Mouth. This is a raw, unpretentious
exploration of domestic violence, coupled with drug
and alcohol addiction. A British working class family
in crisis but really the crisis is everyday life.
The film opens in a packed workmen's club, the dominant
male utterly frustrated trying to buy drinks for the
entire family. The women are at one table, the men
a safe distance at another. Some quite unfunny stand-up
routines are upstaged by the bawdy stories at the
men's table. Outside, the youngest male of the family
is in a phone booth trying to score heroine.
The scene is set and we embark on a journey with this
family: the grandmother helplessly watching the domestic
carnage; the mother trying to do the best thing by
her heroin-addicted son while being supportive of
her pregnant daughter caught up in an abusive marriage;
the aggressive drug and alcohol-charged husband; and
the little girl who, like the grandmother, is powerless
in a world falling apart. With not a hint of sentimentality,
we witness every person's pain, and eventually every
person's wounds are opened for us to understand the
self-perpetuating cycles.
Seldom have I seen humanity depicted with such honesty.
This is a violent film but the violent acts are not
shown, the lead-ups and the after-maths are making
it cogently shocking. There are no tricks, gimmicks
or flashy film techniques, nothing to draw focus from
the human drama. However, there is humour, and it
is used effectively as a potent tool to highlight
the desolation, isolation and destruction. If these
people can still laugh in the face of such adversity,
so can we.
Gary Oldman drew this film from life. Only someone
who has been there could construct such a drama with
so much intensity. Kathy Burke won Best Actress Award
at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival for her portrayal
of the abused wife; and the film won two BAFTA Awards
(British Film & TV Awards) for Best Original Screenplay
and the Alexander Korda Award for Outstanding British
Film.
I recommend this film to all but the faint-hearted.
Be prepared to be profoundly affected.
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