Dir. Peter Mullan, UK/France/Italy, 2010, 124 mins
Cast: Conor McCarron, Louise Goodall,
Review by Carol Allen
Peter Mullan is a writer/director who makes films about subjects he really cares about. His previous The Magdalene Sisters was the desperately moving tale of the injustice wreaked upon young unmarried mothers in Ireland in the sixties. Now seven years later he returns to the time of his youth, Glasgow in the 1970s, and the story of a boy who allows himself to be tarred with the brush that society expects him to be.
John McGill is an intelligent boy doing well in primary school and about to go on to secondary. The reputation of his family however, particularly that of his delinquent elder brother Benny (Joe Szula), has gone before him. The teachers have a down on him from the start, he is put in a low ability class despite his obvious brightness and his talent and desire to do well is the subject of sneers rather than praise. An encounter with the NEDS (non educated delinquent boys of the title) changes his life. At first they too try to persecute him but when he fights back and more importantly they discover who his brother is, John discovers that here is a sub society where he can find not only support but also respect, as his personal qualities and intelligence make him a leader here.
Mullan himself plays John’s father, Goodall his mother and Marianna Palka his supportive Aunt Beth. All the younger actors however are non professionals in their first film roles but Mullan gets remarkable performances out of them. Greg Forrest plays John at the age of ten, making us really feel for him in the injustice he faces in his new school but the bulk of the role is taken by 16 year old Conor McCarron, who gives a remarkable performance, as we see him change from an aspirational, eager to learn boy into a young thug without ever losing the essence of the character or our sympathy. There’s a particularly telling sequence early in the story, where he finds a kindred spirit in a boy who goes to a “good” middle class school, whose friendship supports him in his thirst for learning. Until that is the boy’s mother discovers that John comes from the wrong side of the social tracks and puts a stop to the friendship. There is also the very disturbing incident, when John beats another boy to pulp out of bravado and then later finds himself demoted to the remedial class at school, sharing space with his victim. The NEDS themselves are less sympathetic, not helped by the fact that if you’re not Scottish, their Glasgow accents are frequently impenetrable but more importantly, because their petty grievances and wars with other gangs, beautifully choreographed by the director, are so utterly brutal and pointless.
Although in theory a period piece, NEDS is also disturbing because of what it says about the vulnerability of adolescence and the social pressures that can force a young person to subvert his or her potential in order to survive. And yes, it does ring bells with today’s stories of knife crime in schools.
