Brighton Rock: Crime and punishment at the seaside

Brighton Rock
Directed by Rowan Joffe
General release from May 19

This superbly crafted and intelligent adaptation of Graham Greene’s 1939 novel tries to avoid the weaknesses of the 1947 film version. It has stunning acting and a script dripping in symbolism as well as social and psychological insights.

Sam Riley plays the young gangster Pinkie, who murders Fred Hale from a rival gang in retaliation for their murdering one of his own gang.

Pinkie has designs on taking over leadership of the gang from the aging Spicer and attempts to do a deal with the big crime boss of Brighton.

Pinkie also has to deal with Rose, a young tearoom waitress who is a potential witness to his murder of Fred.

Pinkie manages to obtain an incriminating pierside photograph of himself, Rose and Fred that would link him to the murdered man. However, he still doesn’t trust Rose to be silent about her growing unease around his involvement with the murder.

He tells her he loves her and they marry, mainly so she will not have to give evidence against him.

Rose’s tearoom boss Ida (Helen Mirren) and her friend Phil Corkery (John Hurt), who are concerned about the couple's relationship, eventually come to realise Rose's plight. They attempt to get the police involved and a final tragedy is averted.

The movie is set in the 1960s against a backdrop of rioting Mods and Rockers and director Rowan Joffe has managed to weave in existential themes about the nature of good and evil, as well as the suffocating effects of desire, guilt and punishment that stem from the Catholicism of Pinkie and Rose.

Producer Paul Webster has noted that originally they tried to leave out references to Catholicism.

“However, once we tried it without the emphasis on Catholicism, and the moral conflicts the key characters have as a result, it all fell on its face and it soon became clear this was the beating heart of the story."

It is not just the fear of the death that frightens Pinkie but mainly the possibility of eternal damnation. At the same time he recognises his destiny as he says to Rose: “You’re good, I’m bad, we’re made for each other.”

The acting is brilliant with Mirren adding another impressive role to her career. All of the characters are flawed in some way and the actors manage to convey those aspects and are able to do justice to the sensitive and perceptive dialogue.

Riley is a brilliant coiled spring as Pinkie and even though we know he has the makings of a serial killer he manages to generate sympathy for his doomed character.

Andrea Riseborough as Rose creates a charcater who is naive and brittle, placing absolute faith and trust in the man who would lead to her downfall. Even at the end of the film her faith is both a curse and joy.

The film captures the period well with the conflicts between the Mods and Rockers providing a background to the social and political changes of the time. These also provide the environment of change for the two main characters, with Rose symbolically changing from her drab dress into a fashionable pink mod dress.

The movie has a lot of film noir scenes, which are intercut with scenes of lively 1960s Brighton. The Brighton Pier, which burnt down several years ago, is replaced in the film by the one at Eastbourne.