Pure

One thing that stands out like a sore thumb on the previous comment is that David Wenham plays a drug dealer, he's easy on the eyes but a not so nice a fella. The son brings out all my maternal instincts, he does such a fantastic job of playing this tortured child that he makes me want to slap his mother silly. What a future this young man will have as an actor. Keira Knightly is really great but I want to slap her too. Alas this is reality in the real world, addictions can take over all senses, and destroy all in it's path. This really is a compelling movie and I tried to stop watching but just could not. It makes me wonder what the writer has gone thru to create such a sad story.

Normally I am depressed by these kind of movies. There is a place for a look at the worst side of life but I don't usually seek them out for entertainment. However the performances in this are uniformly excellent and I watched it in spite of my prejudices. Particular praise goes out to Molly Parker and David Wenham, both from other parts of the world, but playing Londoners convincingly. Paul, wonderfully played by Harry Eden, is a fully fleshed character and Eden is unusually good for a child actor who, in effect, is carrying the whole movie, as he is in practically every scene. If anyone needs to see the misery that drugs cause they could do little better than watch this film.

Pure, a film about a heroin addict mother in East London, could all too easily have become a cold and hopeless rendition of the destructive nature of drug use. Instead, through sensitive screenplay and compelling performances from the cast, it successes in showing how a binding familial love can triumph over the modern evils which so many face. Molly Parker, who plays a widowed junkie mother of two compels us to discover how she can care more about heroin than her two sons. However, the saving grace of the film is the mature and grounded portrayal of her older son, Paul, played by Harry Eden. His simple, heartfelt acting gives the audience a sense of his position, trapped between loyalty to his mother and the social services. It is Eden's acting, through which the film is shown, that we are immersed into the grimy drudgery of West Ham. His facial expression, never contrived or obvious gives a realism which makes him shine out against other child actors today. And when he too smokes heroin with his companion Louise (played by Keira Knightley in a refreshing change from her swashbuckling), we wonder whether the vice of this drug can grip him too. The image of a ten year-old boy chasing the dragon tips us to the edge of our seats and ponders what lengths this film will go to to show us such a different world. The cinematography offers haunting visions of this concrete jungle and is very effective. I felt the film's only downfall was its soundtrack which is written by only one person and gives little variation from its initial theme. However at some points its sentimental sound is appropriate. I really did like this film because at its core stood the moral that despite what influences of sin and hatred we might undergo, love will always remain. Well worth seeing.

Molly Parker is indeed convincing as the addict mother but the person who brings this film off is the boy who plays her son -- so it behooves us to get his name right. Harry Eden makes a brilliant debut in this difficult role. He is onscreen in almost every scene, with far more screen time than either Parker or David Wenham who plays the mother's supplier. His daily trials are grim but his ultimate resolution of them is cathartic.

I was so impressed by this film. At first glance, it's just another junkie flick, as another user has implied - but there's a real humanity to this film that movies like "Trainspotting" and "Requiem" are lacking. I think this is largely due to the absolutely *stunning* performance of the main character - probably one of the best child actors I've ever seen on screen.