Scum starts as three new inmates arrive at British borstal for young offenders, Carlin (Ray Winstone), Davis (Julian Firth) & Angel (Alrick Riley) are all introduced to Mr. Sands (John Judd) the brutal senior officer who runs A wing. The three new inmates quickly discover life at the borstal is brutal & unforgiving, Carlin is known as a hard-case & Pongo Banks (John Blundell) the current 'daddy' on A wing fears competition so beats Carlin up. Carlin decides to take over Banks operation & with the aid of some snooker balls in a sock 'convinces' Banks & his cronies that he's the new daddy on A wing. However the inmates have as much to fear from corrupt & uncaring screws as they do each other...
This British production was directed by Alan Clarke & one has to say once you have seen Scum it'll probably stay with you forever. Originally commissioned by the BBC for their Play for Today series in 1977 they refused to broadcast it, this is the TV version referred to in the IMDb's 'Alternate Versions' section. Writer Roy Minton & director Clarke then went & re-shot it (Archer for instance is played by a different actor in both versions) for a theatrical release which is far more violent & has much more profanity in it. I have never seen the original BBC version but it is available on The Alan Clarke Collection as is the theatrical cut as well which is the one I am basing my comment on. Scum is a very harsh & brutal look inside a British borstal for young men during the late 70's, it is unflinching in it's detail & depiction of cruelty, corruption & is utterly damning of a system which was wholly inadequate & didn't work. It's a brilliantly written film, the character's are superb & you really feel for them as people, the dialogue takes no prisoners with lots of swearing & racist insults (jungle bunny, coon, black barst*rd etc.) that may offend some of the more politically correct members of the audience. In fact the whole of Scum will probably offend the PC brigade. The film presents the borstal as an institution run by violence & fear, both the inmates & prison officers are seen to be guilty of perpetuating the circle of sadism, violence & corruption in a system that is abused by everyone for their own ends. Scum is just a brilliantly compelling, absorbing, shocking & wonderfully written film that tells it like it was & pulls no punches & doesn't try to fool the audience with any sort of Hollywood romanticised 'happy ending' where everyone happily walks away.
The one thing I must say at this point is that I am positive the way borstal is represented here is no longer the case in reality, in that sense you could almost call Scum a period film at this point in time although it was very much contemporary at the time it was made (these days young offenders in Britain are more likely to have Playstations in their cells). The lack of any sort of soundtrack adds to the gritty realism, the borstal is a cold & bland looking place just like it should be. The violence is extreme at certain points, from a very harrowing scene in which a boy attempts to commit suicide to Carlin using snooker balls in a sock to knock someone out to a very unpleasant & graphic sequence showing a boy gang raped. Scum is not an easy ride, it's not a pleasant film to watch although it doesn't set out to pleasant & nor should it. It's scenes of violence are shocking but they have a purpose & are effective in helping to tell a shocking yet always compelling story.
Technically Scum is basic but the harsh simple gritty documentary look of it helps immensely, both to make it difficult to watch & keep it very much grounded in reality. The acting is superb from a fantastic cast, everyone here is just utterly convincing, chillingly so at times in fact.
Scum (the theatrical cut anyway) is a brilliant film & it's as simple & straight forward as that. It's definitely not a film for everyone that's for sure but if you want to watch a challenging film that will stay in your memory for a long time then Scum is it.
This British production was directed by Alan Clarke & one has to say once you have seen Scum it'll probably stay with you forever. Originally commissioned by the BBC for their Play for Today series in 1977 they refused to broadcast it, this is the TV version referred to in the IMDb's 'Alternate Versions' section. Writer Roy Minton & director Clarke then went & re-shot it (Archer for instance is played by a different actor in both versions) for a theatrical release which is far more violent & has much more profanity in it. I have never seen the original BBC version but it is available on The Alan Clarke Collection as is the theatrical cut as well which is the one I am basing my comment on. Scum is a very harsh & brutal look inside a British borstal for young men during the late 70's, it is unflinching in it's detail & depiction of cruelty, corruption & is utterly damning of a system which was wholly inadequate & didn't work. It's a brilliantly written film, the character's are superb & you really feel for them as people, the dialogue takes no prisoners with lots of swearing & racist insults (jungle bunny, coon, black barst*rd etc.) that may offend some of the more politically correct members of the audience. In fact the whole of Scum will probably offend the PC brigade. The film presents the borstal as an institution run by violence & fear, both the inmates & prison officers are seen to be guilty of perpetuating the circle of sadism, violence & corruption in a system that is abused by everyone for their own ends. Scum is just a brilliantly compelling, absorbing, shocking & wonderfully written film that tells it like it was & pulls no punches & doesn't try to fool the audience with any sort of Hollywood romanticised 'happy ending' where everyone happily walks away.
The one thing I must say at this point is that I am positive the way borstal is represented here is no longer the case in reality, in that sense you could almost call Scum a period film at this point in time although it was very much contemporary at the time it was made (these days young offenders in Britain are more likely to have Playstations in their cells). The lack of any sort of soundtrack adds to the gritty realism, the borstal is a cold & bland looking place just like it should be. The violence is extreme at certain points, from a very harrowing scene in which a boy attempts to commit suicide to Carlin using snooker balls in a sock to knock someone out to a very unpleasant & graphic sequence showing a boy gang raped. Scum is not an easy ride, it's not a pleasant film to watch although it doesn't set out to pleasant & nor should it. It's scenes of violence are shocking but they have a purpose & are effective in helping to tell a shocking yet always compelling story.
Technically Scum is basic but the harsh simple gritty documentary look of it helps immensely, both to make it difficult to watch & keep it very much grounded in reality. The acting is superb from a fantastic cast, everyone here is just utterly convincing, chillingly so at times in fact.
Scum (the theatrical cut anyway) is a brilliant film & it's as simple & straight forward as that. It's definitely not a film for everyone that's for sure but if you want to watch a challenging film that will stay in your memory for a long time then Scum is it.