Butch Bronson (Bronson (DVD))

Member Name: paulhanton

Product:	Bronson (DVD)
Date:	27/08/09 (115 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Interesting format, great soundtrack

Disadvantages: Glorifying a violent man

Bronson (2009)

Cert. 18.

I saw this film about a week ago and was pondering how to review it, if at all. I am not lost for words, rather, lost for structure, so I will write this review in a stream of consciousness' way and hope it meets with the approval of the reader.

For a start, the film is controversial. It portrays the life, albeit embellished and enhanced for cinema of one Charles Bronson (Michael Peterson is his birth name) who has become, in his 34 years inside over a 100 prisons, Britain's most famous prisoner. Famous for violence, for hostage taking, for rooftop protests and latterly famous for being the most famous prisoner. In this World of celebrity status being so important, he has achieved a celebrity status, basically for being a thug.

The film is directed by Nicholas Winding Refn (easy for you to say) who I have to say, I had never heard of. The style of the film is quite surreal, which I guess the director was looking for. We see Bronson fitting right in with the darkness of the screenplay and when there is more colour it is either blood, or in one scene, the blood red of a brothel. There is little other colour throughout, even his civilian clothes are drab.

I don't know enough about how films are made to know whether the director or musical director decides on the soundtrack, but whoever did, it was inspired. The start of the film and the end is played with a backdrop of 'Chorus of (Hebrew) slaves' Verdi, incredibly apt when you see the film. We get fights to Tchaikovsky and tastes of freedom to Flower Duet (Delibes), and we get a great 80's soundtrack with other scenes.

Tom Hardy plays Bronson, well, at least his adult years and narrates the story in front of an old style music hall audience, who boo, cheer and applaud his narratives and soliloquies performed through theatrical medium such as painted faces (mime style).

Hardy is hard to determine as an actor in this as he seems too theatrical to be true, so butch that he is almost camp, so damned hard that we sense his vulnerability, mixed in with his volatility. I think, though I'm unsure to be honest, that Hardy is doing the role (as required of him) justice, but giving depth to a man that I'm not sure has such depth. The fact that there are several nude scenes where he has to play the hard man (pardon the pun) whilst being covered in grease (you'll get it when you watch) alone singles him out as focussed if nothing else.

The theatrical slant seems very apt as we get the feeling that Bronson's life is little more than a play in which he plays a cameo role. The flashback scenes that intersperse the narrative only serving to further highlight what is, in some ways a Shakespearean, or even Greek tragedy. Bronson wants nothing more than fame and adulation, though clearly the only place he can achieve this is in prison, and the only way is by being more violent than anyone else; which ultimately leaves him battered and beaten and spending 30 of his 34 confined years in solitary, where he cannot see or accept the notoriety that he has created. Outside of prison, and also in prison when faced with humanity or any show of affection, Bronson (played by Hardy, though we sometimes forget) is at the least awkward, if not downright juvenile and naïve; it is this juxtaposition between his vulnerability and his menacing sado-masochism that left me feeling for him and wondering how he has not realised what a waste his life has been, though I reckon he probably has.

There are other actors in the film though in reality, as the title suggests, the film is all about Bronson, the other actors serve to illustrate him really.

Okay, it seems my review has wandered of into an analysis so I will pull it back a bit. Did I like it? Yes, I liked the story, I liked the portrayal of the 'man' inside the monster, I liked the theatrical style of the narrative telling, loved the use of mime faces and music hall boos and cheers. I didn't like the casualness of the violence nor the fact that no 'repercussions' for the injured were shown, we only get the one side of things and if the film was not to glorify his deeds, really we could have done with seeing the impact of his actions on others.

The acting from all concerned was fine, if a little theatrical, though as I have said, this is in keeping with the style of the film. The soundtrack is exceptional in matching the mood of each scene, and even more, creating the mood in some scenes.

There are some people that will not like it because of the very coarse language used and the scenes of quite intense (though not too gory or graphic) violence. There will also be folk that will love for just those reasons. This really is one of those films that will divide folk, and there will be those that do not even attempt to watch it and understand it as it is 'morally wrong'.

I actually think it is very worth watching, for it is a very different format and style from most prison prison/violence films.

Summary: Bronson the prisoner