Care

I was quite shocked to see how damn good this was especially considering Made forTV movies are made for TV for a reason, they suck! Antonia Bird's quite fast moving, yet thoroughly intriguing direction kept me on the edge of my seat through some quite dramatic but not graphic molestation sequences. Child abuse seems to be quite a fashion in recent hollywood, and it's good to see the BBC catching on and ripping them off!

Great performances from Steve Mackintosh as Davey as a grown up, who was pretty sweet in Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels! Also a damn fine performance from Alun Evans, who played Gareth, the kid who falls down on his knees and cries like a girl!

For the past few years, stories of child-abuse within childrens homes has been in the news throughout England and Wales.

This story concerns Davey Younger, a mischevious lad who's put in care for a tad of trouble-making, and is subjected to unspeakable horrors by the people who are supposed to be looking after him. Davey finds that everyone that he turns to simply doesn't want to know or simply doesn't care. Even the suicide of his friend John isn't enough to cause an investigation.

Then, we see Davey as a grown man, trying to forge a relationship with single-mum Pauline and her three children. He seems normal to the outside world, and even to Pauline, but when the story breaks in the news, Davey begins to crack.

Steven Mackintosh deals with his role as Davey wonderfully, portraying him as the mixed up, confused person that he is. This film is excrutiating to watch and the ending is unbearable. However, director Antonia Bird deals with both the subject and the film extremely well (just as she did in Priest(1994)) and presents a wonderful film for those who can actually bear to watch it.

This movie is a must see for anyone who appreciates no-bulls**t straight to the point story-telling and great acting. An unbelievable performance by Steven Macintosh who is IMHO one of the best British actors. Hollywood should take lessons out of British movies and tv-series. One of the best things ever seen on television!

I am not sure what the previous reviewer meant by saying that something in this film was amusing. Amusing it is not. But it grabs you and pulls you in and you can't stop watching. Steven Mackintosh is superb and his last scene was so sad. The loyal strength of his girlfriend is also immensely touching.

Quite a number of important points are made about problems like child abuse. The most important is the way lawyers and insurance companies can push an organisation into a cover-up. Another is that, hard as this might be to accept, Davey and the others would have been better off if the case had never been investigated. It is giving evidence and not being believed which pushes him to the edge, not the original abuse. A terrible dilemma.

This movie is very difficult to watch, but it ought to be seen by everyone. It's hard to believe such evil people exist, that would treat kids like this. But they do. And the rest of us, the society, we fail in helping the abused because we don't want to know what's going on. The acting is very good in general, but Macintosh is simply brilliant!