Red Riding: 1980 (2009)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

James Marsh

Writers:

Tony Grisoni (screenplay)
David Peace (novel)

Release Date:

2009 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

Police corruption interferes with the search for a killer in Yorkshire, England. Based on David Peace's novel "Nineteen Eighty". |

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Cast

Warren Clarke	...	Bill Molloy
Paddy Considine	...	Peter Hunter
James Fox	...	Philip Evans
David Calder	...	Sir John Marsden
Nicholas Woodeson	...	Michael Warren
Ron Cook	...	Clement Smith
Maxine Peake	...	Helen Marshall
Tony Pitts	...	John Nolan
Jim Carter	...	Harold Angus
David Morrissey	...	Maurice Jobson
Eddie Marsan	...	Jack Whitehead
Sean Harris	...	Bob Craven
Tony Mooney	...	Tommy Douglas
Shaun Dooley	...	Dick Alderman
Ken Oxtoby	...	Hotel Receptionist

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:15

Company:

Channel Four Film

Trivia:

Maxine Peake was only cast because two previous choices dropped out.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When Hunter goes to visit Laws the door and windows are clearly made of UPVC which was not available in 1980.

Quotes:

Peter Hunter: You don't like the police much, do you?
Martin Laws: No love lost, no.
Peter Hunter: So when someone kicks down your front door, kills the dog and rapes the wife, who you gonna call?
Martin Laws: Well it certainly wouldn't be the West Yorkshire Police - they'd already *be* in there, wouldn't they!

Movie Connections:

Follows Red Riding: 1974 (2009)

Challenging but brilliant material

The second film in the Red-Riding trilogy is another haunting almost hallucinatory tale of revenge and justice. Paddy Considine is excellent as the slightly cerebral and introspective officer assigned to review the failing investigation into the Yorkshire ripper, and the whole cast give performances of a very high class. The shocking corruption of the Yorkshire police revealed in the first film now intertwines into the real life history of the ripper's crimes and the bumbling investigation which was still fixated on the (hoax) tapes and letters in a fascinating but terrifying way.

It feels like a lot of material is woven into the film which expects you to pay attention and work stuff out. Having said this I found the film easy to watch, it didn't drag at all but like many great films it requires you to think a little. I really will need to see it a second time to try and piece together all of the threads, this is dense and exciting storytelling - perhaps not for everybody but hopefully this will find the audience it deserves.

Some say that the corrupt police story is too fantastic, but we know for a fact that some people were fitted up (via beatings and falsifying/withholding evidence by the police) for major crimes during this period (Birmingham Six, Guildford Four etc.) and that some police such as the Vice squad in London were running a very lucrative protection racket in Soho with senior officers (DCS) directly involved. Without giving away the plot the story here only goes slightly further and seems 'believable enough' to me.

Although essentially produced as 'TV Movies' the first two films (and I expect the 3rd to be the same) have been of a higher standard than about 95% of film releases, I strongly urge anyone who likes intelligent crime noir to see these films if you get the chance.