Harry Brown

The film was shot in and around the abandoned Heygate Estate in Walworth, south London. That is in the Elephant and Castle area, not far from where Michael Caine grew up. Late in his career, Caine went back to his own neighbourhood to make a revenge film. Harry Brown is a retired Royal Marine. His wife is in hospital, he has one friend, and a gang of young men has taken over the estate. After his friend is killed and the police investigation goes nowhere, Harry falls back on his training. It is Daniel Barber's first feature; he came out of commercials and had been Oscar-nominated in 2008 for his short The Tonto Woman. Emily Mortimer plays the detective running the case and Iain Glen a senior officer. On release it landed in the middle of a British argument about youth violence and was compared to Death Wish. The tone is different: revenge is offered here as neither victory nor solution, and Harry ends up tired, ill and alone. Who it is for: viewers who want Caine's harshest late performance and bleak British social thriller. Who it is not for: anyone expecting balanced social analysis. The film draws the young almost entirely as a threat and never examines the causes.