I first discovered this film while researching Brutalist architecture: one of my many passions. It was shot on location at Heygate Estate, a large housing project in South London built in 1974 that deteriorated over the years and was in the process of being demolished during filming. I have always found these sorts of large nearly self-contained building developments to be rather tragic in that their genesis was based around a modern, almost Utopian belief in a better lifestyle for the low income families that were to occupy them. This film, a sort of Charles Bronson meets J.G. Ballard exercise, picks up at the very end of this housing experiment that was usually depicted a bit more hygienic, though equally dystopically, in the films of the late sixties and early seventies such as 'Fahrenheit 451', 'A Clockwork Orange',the Orson Welles film of Kafka's 'The Trial' and 'Conquest of the Planet of the Apes', due to the fact that their architectures looked so futuristic at the time. To me, they still do and so I often search out documentation of these places in film, photograph or architectural review. What I loved most about the film was the sense of place that was conveyed and as I watched the film I felt as though I was experiencing the architecture as powerfully as I did in the film 'My Architect'.
That being said, the story itself was quite entertaining, and as I mentioned above, sort of reminded me of a J.G. Ballard interpretation of 'Death Wish'. There are also comparisons to the excellent Eastwood film 'Gran Torino' and this is more than fair; Though in the end the two films definitely possess their own merits for viewing. I would recommend 'Harry Brown' to any fan of the vigilante genre as the London setting, the architecture and the nuances of the film are different enough from most American members of this genre to bring a freshness to the table.
Kurt Weller
07-04-2011
325 Words
