Themes: Families in Crisis, Race Relations, Domestic Abuse
Main Cast: Ian Hart, David Hart
Release Year: 2000
Country: DE/UK
Run Time: 91 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
A young boy struggles with his family during England's pre-war depression in this drama directed by Stephen Frears. Liam (Anthony Borrows) is a seven-year-old growing up in a working-class family in Liverpool during the early 1930s. Liam's dad (Ian Hart) and older brother Con (David Hart) both work at the nearby shipyards, and his sister Teresa (Megan Burn) works as a domestic for a wealthy Jewish family. Liam, who suffers from a speech defect, is not always happy at school, where his teacher (Anne Reid) and his priest (Russell Dixon) spend nearly as much time lecturing students about the wages of sin as they do covering the three R's. The family's troubles mount when the shipyard is shut down as England sinks into an economic downturn; angry and confused after losing his job, Dad becomes a member of a fascist organization that blames the nation's troubles on Jews and the Irish. Young Liam is forced to come to terms with his father's intolerance -- and the violence that it spawns. Liam also features a standout performance by Claire Hackett as Liam's Mam. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Julia Deakin - Auntie Aggie; Andrew Schofield - Uncle Tom
Credit
Ulrich Felsberg - Co-producer, Stephen Frears - Director, David M. Thompson - Executive Producer, Sally Hibbin - Executive Producer, Tessa Ross - Executive Producer, John Murphy - Composer (Music Score), Stephen Fineren - Production Designer, Andrew Dunn - Cinematographer, Chris Atkinson - Sound/Sound Designer, Jimmy McGovern - Screenwriter
Liam (2000) is a British film directed by Stephen Frears and written by novelist/screenwriter Jimmy McGovern. McGovern (perhaps best known as the creator of British TV crime drama Cracker) adapted his own novel The Back Crack Boys into this emotionally raw meditation on innocence and pain. Frears in turn was influenced by James Joyce's accounts of his stern childhood in late 19th century Catholic Dublin.
Megan Burns won the Marcello Mastroianni award at the Venice film festival for her performance.
Plot
Set in Liverpool in the Depression of the 1930s, the story is told through the eyes of Liam (Anthony Borrows). Liam is taking religious instruction lessons in preparation for his First Communion—his mother (Claire Hackett) is a staunch Roman Catholic. His father (Ian Hart) loses his job when the shipyard he works for closes. Meanwhile his sister Teresa (Megan Burns) has taken a job as maid for the wealthy Jewish family who own the shipyard.
Liam stutters badly under stress, and his strict religious education does not help. The Jewish lady of the house that Teresa works for is having an affair, and the girl becomes an accomplice. Liam's father joins a group of fascists, who rail against rich Jews and cheap Irish labour. His uncle secretly attends meetings with socialists. But all this is just a microcosm of a more general breakdown.
Life becomes increasingly more insecure and people retreat ever more desperately into their own belief systems. This only leads to increasing conflict, leading inexorably to a single violent act.
