BOY A
by
Howard Schumann
The Christian author Lewis B. Smedes once said that, “to
forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was
you.” John Crowley’s Boy A is
a powerfully gripping film about what happens when we fail to forgive
ourselves for wrongdoing and give society the opening to move in and
assuage our guilt.
The story concerns Jack Burridge (Andrew Garfield), who
has been released from prison after serving fourteen years for a murder
that he helped commit when he was ten years old. Adapted by Mark O’Rowe
from the novel by Jonathan Trigell, the film is reminiscent of the notorious
1993 Jamie Bulger case, 
when
two ten-year-olds were convicted of murdering a two-year-old boy, although
Trigell says that his inspiration for the book was a friend of his who
served prison time as a juvenile and turned into “a lovely lad.”
In the Bulger case, the British media portrayed the two boys as evil
savages, ignoring circumstances that might have compelled them to commit
the act. In Boy A, Jack’s release is also trumpeted in
the media with a scare headline about “evil coming of age”
and a drawing of how he might look today.
Known at their trial only as Boy A and Boy B, both Jack (whose given
name was Eric Wilson) and his friend Phillip (Taylor Doherty) were incarcerated
for the brutal murder of a young female classmate, yet the full details
of the crime, including what may or may not have been Jack’s role,
are never fully explained and the surrounding circumstances revealed
only in sporadic flashbacks. We learn that both boys had a childhood
of poverty and neglect. Eric had an alcoholic father and a mother stricken
with cancer, and Philip was sexually abused by an older brother, yet
Crowley never uses their circumstances to justify their crime.
The film opens
with Jack being assisted by his counselor, his uncle Terry (Peter Mullan),
on his release from prison. Terry gives him a present of a pair of “Escape”
brand sneakers and helps him to find a new job at a delivery service
and obtain living accommodations with Kelly (Siobhan Finneran), a kindly
woman who agrees to house him temporarily. As a cover, he tells his
new boss and co-worker Chris (Shaun Evans) that he did three stints
in prison for stealing cars when he was much younger. Jack makes a positive
adjustment at work and falls for office secretary Michelle (Katie Lyons),
known affectionately by her mates as ‘The White Whale”.
Their relationship at first is awkward, especially when Jack is given
Ecstasy at an office party and lets loose in a wild, spasmodic dance,
and later, engages in a violent brawl while coming to the aid of a friend.
Slowly Jack and
Michelle find much in common and one of the loveliest scenes in the
film is when they snap photos of each others while taking a bath together.
As Jack begins to get his life together, he remains fully aware of the
need to guard his secret and his anxiety that others will discover it
is always evident. All the while, Jack is supported by Terry, and when
the boy rescues the victim of a car accident to become a local hero,
Terry calls him his “most successful achievement.” Things
get complicated, however, when Terry’s estranged son (James Young)
comes to live with him and begins to show resentment about his father’s
closeness to Jack. Eventually this entanglement will be the trigger
for the realization of Jack’s (and our) deepest fears.
Boy A is
a compassionate and disturbing film that won numerous BAFTA awards for
acting, directing, editing, and cinematography, though it started out
as a made-for-TV movie. Garfield turns in a superb performance, allowing
his face to reveal his vulnerability and his changing moods to depict
the tightrope on which he is walking. Though the film has moments of
pathos, it is not without grace. We cling tenaciously to those moments
of transcendence, sensing that they might be fleeting, but knowing that
they will never be forgotten.
©2009 Howard Schumann
CineScene
