I was sitting in front of the TV flicking through the film channels trying to find a film I haven`t seen before : " Seen that . Watched that , that`s total crap " and grew more and more frustrated at trying to find a film I`d never seen before . The only reason I started watching BORSTAL BOY was it was the only movie on TV that night that I hadn`t seen and wasn`t too impressed when the TV guide described it as " An affecting coming of age drama about IRA saboteur Brendan Behan " so I was expecting another film about the peace loving pacifists of the IRA no doubt financed with money from the ailing British ( And spot the irony of that ) film industry , but I was pleasantly surprised by BORSTAL BOY . It`s quite a charming little film , very well written and acted by a largely unknown cast
My only real problems with the film is that it perhaps tries a little too hard to be likeable . With the exception of Del none of the young crims come across as being violent criminals . Also I`m just not sure how " true " this true story is because I had the instinctive feeling that a few of the facts had been changed in order to give BORSTAL BOY a more dramatic impact , some of the friendships seemed unlikely and being assigned to HMS Prince Of Wales ! How unlucky is that ?
But if you take the facts with a pinch of salt you`ll certainly like this film , especially if you found SCUM to be such a turn off due to its unrelenting violence . And keep an eye out for the names Lee Ingleby and Danny Dyer . You might be hearing a lot more of them in the future
My only real problems with the film is that it perhaps tries a little too hard to be likeable . With the exception of Del none of the young crims come across as being violent criminals . Also I`m just not sure how " true " this true story is because I had the instinctive feeling that a few of the facts had been changed in order to give BORSTAL BOY a more dramatic impact , some of the friendships seemed unlikely and being assigned to HMS Prince Of Wales ! How unlucky is that ?
But if you take the facts with a pinch of salt you`ll certainly like this film , especially if you found SCUM to be such a turn off due to its unrelenting violence . And keep an eye out for the names Lee Ingleby and Danny Dyer . You might be hearing a lot more of them in the future