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Released by: Kino Lorber
Released on: June 4, 2013.
Director: Alan Clarke
Cast: Ray Winstone, Mick Ford
Year: 1979
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The Movie:
The social message film has come a long way since Alan Clarke's SCUM - a brutally raw indictment of the British juvenile reform system in 1979. While the genre certainly had its roots in the earliest days of Hollywood it usually spread its message under the genteel cover of an impeccable A-lister like Gregory Peck (GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT) or Sydney Poitier and it almost always shied away from explicit language or violence. Later films like TRAFFIC or BOYS DON'T CRY had indie or art house cred to help them.
But SCUM had none of that. Originally made as a telefilm for the BBC in 1977 that august institution rejected it outright. Too violent. Too gritty. Too disturbing. The public cannot handle this. Clarke, to his eternal credit, then located the funding on his own and made SCUM as a theatrical feature.
Headlined by a very young Ray Winstone SCUM tells the story of Carlin - a troubled young man convicted of assaulting an officer. Sent off to one of Britain's "borstals" he's quickly confronted with the terrifying facts of life there. The institution is rotten from top to bottom with corrupt and violent guards at the top of the food chain immediately followed by brutal ad-hoc gangs of inmates/offenders. The most powerful gang inside the institution operates under the purposefully blind eye of the head wardens. Carlin comes into quick conflict with this cabal but manages to win a measure of dominance by committing a shocking act of violence (which the much later Sean Penn juvenile delinquent drama BAD BOYS ruthlessly ripped off) against the ringleader and therefore becoming the top "bad guy" in the house.
The irony here is that Carlin just wanted to do his time in peace but the system wouldn't allow it. His friends and associates inside also suffer under the brutality and dehumanization as well. Vegetarian atheist Archer (Mick Ford) can only fight back with his wits and superior intellect. But that isn't enough to stop the bleeding.
Made in the shadow of the SEX PISTOLS, the Queen's jubilee and the social upheavals of Great Britain in the late 1970's and its attendant youth culture SCUM is both a time capsule and a timeless reminder of the evils of a corrupt penal system. The violence and sexual torture (how else to describe a gang rape?) that occur so often in this film are far from exploitative - they are the most disturbing example of social realism. The harm these boys do to both each other and themselves is unremittingly grim and realistic. But never titillating. SCUM may not have had the budget or whimsy of a film like IF? - but it had the heart and brains. And it's a highly effective piece of work. Note that the British essentially disbanded the borstal system not that long after the release of this film.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Unlike most of Kino's "as-is" transfers, SCUM has received a full-on restoration courtesy of Britain's Pinewood Studios. And a marvelous job they've done. The 1080p AVC encoded transfer is very well rendered with meticulous clean up of spots and image debris without messing with inherent grain structure. The signs of DNR and similar tools are nowhere to be found and the film looks natural.
Audio is a choice of a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track or a Linear PCM 2.0 mono mix. While both tracks are lossless the differences are minimal. The mono mix is the historically accurate one but the surround track is so subdued it makes little difference. Dialog is always clear and ambient sound is fine. SCUM has almost no music and sound effects are at a bare minimum so all I can say about the audio here is that it more than meets the necessary requirements.
The extras consist of a very good commentary with star Winstone (his regional accent is thick but one should get acclimated soon enough) and some featurettes with the cast and crew and producers talking about various aspects of the film. The featurettes are interesting and delve into some of the problems the film ran into in terms of public reaction at the time. Finally, two trailers are provided - censored and uncensored.
The Final Word:
Indispensable.
SCUM is both a great example social realism in film and the best kind of activism through drama. Heartbreaking, moving and powerful and very disturbing, SCUM is high art with some very rough edges.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
