Mauer des Schweigens

I saw this last week and I was blown away by it. This has to be one of the best dramas I have seen and the acting by James Nesbitt and the other family members is exceptional. Sometimes it is difficult to watch but it is well made and an important drama which people should see. I highly recommend although it is sometimes frustrating when the witnesses do not come forward straightaway and the murderers intimidate the grieving family. Great drama its just a shame it is based on a true story.

Wall of Silence is a brilliant, real life recreation of the brutal, caveman-style night-time gang killing of a youth near a notorious council estate in south-east London and the story of the brilliant detective work in the search for the vile perpetrators.

This is the same evil, disgusting inner/south London territory that you see in the work of someone like Gary Oldman. It's not the mawkish, cotton wool London of Richard Curtis – that's all on the other side of town, the glitzy, tourist-lands of west London, with lots of geeky Americans and lots of nice, trendy little boutiques and bookshops. Notting Hill and Portobello Road whimsy.

Christopher Menaul London is gritty, visceral and life-and-death struggle. This is the aptly and forebodingly-named Shooters Hill, sandwiched between the equally infamous districts of Bermondsey, Deptford, Rotherhithe and New Cross – don't go there late at night. This milieu is the Sweeney (1977) but twenty years later and gone insane, with a new generation of ever younger thugs without the old ‘respect'.

You see all of the miscellany of urban, night-time life – semi-derelict council estates littered with filthy trash cans, wire grills and barbed wire and seedy late-night kebab shops and takeaways, battered cars and the general poverty and hopelessness of residents entrapped in vast estates, watched over by their delinquent, hoodlum young neighbours. Do you say anything if you see anything?

Add to this the sheer mayhem of a night out on the town anywhere in the United Kingdom at the weekend and you have the ingredients for disaster that is probably only narrowly averted many times all over the country.

The police search for the gang of evil delinquent youths is led by the brilliant Tony Cottis (played by the excellent but sadly under-used actor Philip Davis).

Philip Davis is really excellent as the conscientious, kind and decent Inspector Tony Cottis, who goes after the thugs relentlessly, turning the film into a classic British TV detection series, along the lines of the equally brilliant Danielle Cable: Eyewitness (2003) and This is Personal: the Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper (1999). Early on, Cottis faces immense intimidation from both the youth thugs and older people connected with them, yet he carries on nonetheless, to his great credit. Davis is one of those relatively undiscovered London actors probably about a couple of rungs down the fame ladder from his real peers, Ray Winstone and Gary Oldman.

Most of the acting is superb, although James Nesbitt is a bit unconvincing on account of speaking in his native Ulster accent (as the father of the murdered Jamie Robe). Actually, they should have got Gary Oldman for the part. The actress who plays Tracey the witness was brilliant.

Based on a true story, set in south London, this is a corker! James Nesbitt gives a sterling performance as the father of a brutally murdered teenager. His son is killed at the beginning by a gang weilding baseball bats, simply because he was 'a bit lippy' to them. The gang strike so much terror into the surrounding community that no one will come forward to give evidence against the gang.

The police, the community, even James know who the killers are. Due to a lack of witnesses, nothing can happen. James sets about a relentless pursuit of his sons killers in partnership with the top police officer in charge.

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

Based on a true story,this is set in Bermondsey,South East London in the August of 1997.After a heavy night on the booze,17 year old Jamie Robe (Calum Callaghan) is walking home with his sister's girlfriend near the Osprey Estate.Along the way,he makes a slightly off-the-cuff remark to a nearby boy who is enjoying a snog with a girl,who we will later come to know as Tracy Brown (Stephanie Leonides).This results in the boy,and a whole gang of local youths,setting on him with a barrage of baseball bats and pool cues,beating him to death.There were no end of witnesses to the murder,but no one said a thing for fear of what the gang might do to them.However,thanks to the courage of some reliable witnesses in the shape of the conscience-ridden Tracy and some local Turkish fish shop owners,and the determination of both Jamie's father,Stuart (James Nesbitt) and Detective Tony Cottis (Philip Davis) the guilty party are eventually brought to justice and made to feel the full wait of their burden.

This is a powerful and thoroughly engrossing true life tale,boosted no end by thoughtful,realistic performances from all the cast members (Nesbitt especially) and a forboding sense of reality in the way it is told and conveyed.Indeed,in one scene,Det Cottis appears baffled when a prominent colleague informs him of the potential motive for the murder,only to then be told "it's nothing exceptional in East London these days."Indeed,this does bear a ring of truth to it,as it would seem many similar incidents are reported in the news and in tabloids each day.This was almost certainly just one case of many,but what made it stand out so much was the demonstration of how good,decent,respectable people can triumpth over lawless thugs if the right human qualities are shown.Of said thugs,none of them are ever delved in to as characters and,after the murder scene,are only ever shown in passing standing around looking menacing at certain people or spitting abuse in their loutish way,but this is okay as this only serves to highlight them as the lawless,remoseless types they are,without any redeeming qualities shown to neutralize the audience's loathing of them.

This is based on a true story,and it has been crafted with meticulous perfection to appear this way,with believable real characters in a believably (not to mention frighteningly) real situation.Without brilliant performances and a fine script though,this may never have shone through,and it only serves to prove that this is true of this that it is as riveting as it is.****

Wall of Silence is a brilliant, real life recreation of the brutal, caveman-style night-time gang killing of a youth near a notorious council estate in south-east London and the story of the brilliant detective work in the search for the vile perpetrators.

This is the same evil, disgusting inner/south London territory that you see in the work of someone like Gary Oldman. It's not the mawkish, cotton wool London of Richard Curtis - that's all on the other side of town, the glitzy, tourist-lands of west London, with lots of geeky Americans and lots of nice, trendy little boutiques and bookshops. Notting Hill and Portobello Road whimsy.

Christopher Menaul London is gritty, visceral and life-and-death struggle. This is the aptly and forebodingly-named Shooters Hill, sandwiched between the equally infamous districts of Bermondsey, Deptford, Rotherhithe and New Cross - don't go there late at night. This milieu is the Sweeney (1977) but twenty years later and gone insane, with a new generation of ever younger thugs without the old 'respect'.

You see all of the miscellany of urban, night-time life - semi-derelict council estates littered with filthy trash cans, wire grills and barbed wire and seedy late-night kebab shops and takeaways, battered cars and the general poverty and hopelessness of residents entrapped in vast estates, watched over by their delinquent, hoodlum young neighbours. Do you say anything if you see anything?

The only thing missing is the now ubiquitous security cameras (Britain has the most in the world according to today's newspapers); in this instance they would have been invaluable.

Add to this the sheer mayhem of a night out on the town anywhere in the United Kingdom at the weekend and you have the ingredients for disaster that is probably only narrowly averted many times all over the country.

The police search for the gang of evil delinquent youths is led by the brilliant Tony Cottis (played by the excellent but sadly under-used actor Philip Davis).

Philip Davis is really excellent as the conscientious, kind and decent Inspector Tony Cottis, who goes after the thugs relentlessly, turning the film into a classic British TV detection series, along the lines of the equally brilliant Danielle Cable: Eyewitness (2003) and This is Personal: the Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper (1999). Early on, Cottis faces immense intimidation from both the youth thugs and older people connected with them, yet he carries on nonetheless, to his great credit. Davis is one of those relatively undiscovered London actors probably about a couple of rungs down the fame ladder from his real peers, Ray Winstone and Gary Oldman.

Most of the acting is superb, although James Nesbitt is a bit unconvincing on account of speaking in his native Ulster accent (as the father of the murdered Jamie Robe). Actually, they should have got Gary Oldman for the part. The actress who plays Tracey the witness was brilliant. The Turkish witnesses are played well and are a credit to their country.