Harry Brown_Daniel Barber

Harry Brown is a more recent film made my Daniel Barber just after Britain’s riots(2009). The film focuses on Social Realism along with the themes of Age, Revenge and Violence, I think the combination of these themes together gave a very powerful and relatable outcome to the film. Because this film was set in London and during a time people where I was alive I was able to understand and acknowledge what happened.

Michael Caine stared as the main role of Harry brown, along with Emily Mortimer as Alice Frampton. Mr Caine was the best choice for actor as he came across as a polite elderly man with a violent pass. The Narrative of this film was very intriguing as throughout there was rotten language, violent actions and off putting scenes. These off putting scenes however were real shots of the London riots which added chaos to the overall film.

The beginning of this film shows us the strong bond between to elderly men living in a youth neighborhood. Before the violence reaches its worse we see the two elderly men playing chess in the pub. Studying the conversation of the lowlife youths and Harrys past in the Royal Marines Len goes on to ask Harry ‘Did you ever kill anyone’ this questions contradicts itself as Harry then goes on to kill many teens in a search for justice.

Mise En Scene was used constantly throughout the 103 minute films due to the multiply use of weapons, costumes, and environment. The sound also varies due to the characters; example; harry and lens conversation based upon manners and polite constructions, the teenagers on the other hand differ from shouting and a high quantity of rude language. The lighting tends to stay the same focusing or light and day, however the night is exaggerated due to it mainly being set in pitch black environments with only objects like lighter and fires to make light.

Harry Brown is the main protagonist as he is constantly trying to find justice for the death of his loved ones. However id say that Noel(main youth) played by Ben Drew was also a protagonist as he was forever trying to make himself look powerful around his friends and constantly wanting to ruin ad disrupt other peoples lives.

The camera quality was surprisingly good throughout the whole film, as I was expecting the camera to have a low density to represent the youths. The camera was at its best during the day times as it captured all the detail in the scene, the violent shots that were taken from recordings of the riots were expected to be rubbish as they were not recorded by professionals however the wonky camera angles and dodgy shots made the scene more relatable.

I think Michael Caine and the other actors did a brilliant performance and it kept me interested throughout the whole 103 minutes. Daniel Barber did well with the layout of the movie as it makes everyday teenagers think closely towards theirs and others actions as it can affect everyone.