Boy story

>> Liam is an unblinking look at Depression-era Liverpool

by MATTHEW HAYS

Stephen Frears again proves what a varied director he is with Liam, an utterly distressing film about a Liverpudlian family struggling to survive in the brutal dirty '30s.

Forgoing the parental perspective, the film instead brings us the family's woes as told from the perspective of Liam, an endearing, stuttering six year old. Dad (Ian Hart) is a hardworking stiff, but is laid off at the shipyard and replaced by scabs, meaning the dire money situation at home is only going to get worse. Mom (Claire Hackett) is long suffering but works at being upbeat, haranguing pops about spending what little money he has on beer. Boozing, it seems, is one of the only pleasures that can be had in a world this dark. Hart and Hackett evoke parental angst and desperation only too perfectly.

But the casting find here must be Anthony Borrows, who is heartwrenching as a child barely able to express himself. Punctuating the film's acute drama are moments of dark comedy, when Liam's teachers present their bizarre version of the Bible and explain its deep, inner meanings. It's Catholic repression laid bare, as hilarious as it is disturbing. Liam, understandably, finds it all a bit confusing.

Key to the film's plot is Liam's sister Teresa, who finds work at a wealthy Jewish household nearby, scrubbing floors and running various errands. (They include passing notes between the lady of the house and her illicit lover.) Hart soon finds this too much to bear, as his daughter becomes dependent on the Jewish family, he blames his lost job on Jewish company owners and the family's Jewish landlord harangues them for the unpaid rent. Hart is soon drawn in by the local burgeoning fascist movement, blaming his problems squarely on the Jews.

Frears' handling of the material in Liam is fine; a good chunk of the credit for Liam's success must go primarily to screenwriter Jimmy McGovern, who manages a good deal of suspense in the characters' growing dilemmas. McGovern, who previously penned the excellent but underseen Priest, clearly understands that economic desperation can lead to some of the ugliest human behaviour. Like last week's Focus, but far more successful in its goals as a film, Liam couldn't feel more timely in its themes of scapegoating, prejudice, fear and discrimination.