Sweet Sixteen

I felt like I had been punched after I watched this film - it is one of the most powerful movies I have seen in a long time.

This is Ken Loach at his very best, with a wonderful script from Paul Laverty. A tragic, bittersweet tale of a young boys hope and optimism crushed by his uncaring family and the harsh world in which he lives. Despite the fact that this film is a tragedy, it is also very sweet, with some touching moments and a great deal of humour. There is also hope of a sort - the central character Liam has an older sister who cares about him deeply and is always there for him.

The acting is stellar, it is shot with finesse and all in all is a masterful piece of film making. See this.

It doesn't get any more nakedly gritty than this. This is a movie for

anyone who thinks that kids who grow up to be drug addicts and

drug users have only themselves to blame. What's particularly

disturbing is how the biggest antagonists for Liam, and his friend

Pinball are not people their own age, but rather adults. Some

scenes are very unnerving and hard to watch simply because the

hazing and degradation that the fifteen-year-old characters endure

is at the hands of people who behave like insecure playground

bullies, but are members of a powerful organized crime force.

Even though I'm pretty close to the age of the main character, I can

barely imagine what the nightmarish experiences he endures

must be like.

The movie is emotionally devastating nearly all the way though. It's

moments of levity are welcome, but few. There's points where it

seems as though everything will turn out alright, but then

something else happens that throws everything off-course. For a

relaxing and enjoyable time, this is not a movie to see. But if you're

looking for something that will move you, shock you and really

make you think (and appreciate your own situation) than Sweet

Sixteen is the one too see.

10/10

I saw this film at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival. A completely charming mix of hope and despair set in Greenock, a troubled suburb of Glasgow. Fifteen-year old Liam spends his time trying to scrounge enough money to buy a caravan (trailer) for his mom and him to live in when she's released from prison. He needs money fast, and decides to cut in on his mom's boyfriend's heroin trade. Of course, he's soon in way over his head. Among the rest of the non-professional cast, Martin Compston's performance floored me. He captures that period between childhood and adulthood with just the right mix of emotions. He was sitting in the seat right behind me and when the film was over, I turned to him, speechless, and just shook his hand.

Winning awards and nominations at Cannes, Sweet Sixteen continues director Ken Loach's devotion to social awareness. After using film that directly affected legislative reform (Cathy Come Home) in 1965, his work has spanned the globe and a wide variety of social ills and with very varying fortunes in marketability. Sweet Sixteen looks at adolescent delinquency and the difficulties faced by youths who try desperately to escape the downward spiral that ruins their lives forever. The script, in broad Scots dialect, has an urgency and reality to it. The young actors come mostly from the deprived areas of Western Scotland where the film is set, many of them first-timers and of an age where they would not legally be admitted to the film. The scriptwriter bitterly attacked the BBFC over its ‘18' certificate decision, which was based mostly on the aggressive use of strong language. Meanwhile, English distributors looked at the use of subtitles to help adults south of the border cope.

The story follows 15-year old Liam (played by 17-yr old football player Martin Compston) as a youth who is determined to have a normal family life once his mother gets out of prison. The drug-dealing boyfriend of his mother and his empty-headed companion ‘Pinball', do little to make his quest easier. He opts for ‘means to an end' – a simple enough mistake we feel for a young boy in his circumstances. The consequences, of course, are told with shocking realism. Will the film have the sort of impact that ‘Cathy Come Home' had on homeless laws, and mean more attention is given to real support for youths in disadvantaged areas, rather than simply throwing money at the unwinnable war against drug dealing? The long list of agencies thanked in the closing credits shows how the people in the know pin their hopes on Loach – one of Britain's finest and conscience-filled directors – and one of our most ignored.

A typically excellent Ken Loach dramatic testament to the plight of the common man, "Sweet Sixteen" brings the forces of adversity and the futility of naive courage into bold relief with this hopeful examination of one boy's struggle to make a better life for himself and his loser mother. Don't look for a happy ending to this dreary, drab but compelling drama which could easily be labeled a "downer". Recommended only for realists into foreign films. (B+)

Note - This film does have English subtitles making it more user friendly for those who find the thick Scot dialect difficult to understand.