Cast: Martin Compston, Annmarie Fulton, William Ruane, Michelle Coulter, Gary McCormack
Director: Ken Loach
Producer: Rebecca O'Brien
Screenplay: Paul Laverty
Cinematography: Barry Ackroyd
Music: George Fenton
U.S. Distributor: Lions Gate
In English with subtitles
The title of Sweet Sixteen may make it sound like a sweet coming-of-age story or a '00s version of a John Hughes movie, but don't be fooled. This is the latest from British director Ken Loach, whose body of work blares like a warning trumpet to alert viewers to the struggles of the working class. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with Loach's left-wing political views, two facts that are not in dispute: Loach never pulls punches and his passion is genuine. His films are filled with thought-provoking material, not meaningless rhetoric, and even the die-hard conservative will likely leave a Loach movie sunk deep in thought.
Sweet Sixteen represents Loach's most accomplished film since My Name Is Joe. It's an uncompromising movie that illustrates one of the most convincing personality transformations that I have seen in a recent motion picture. This change, from scrappy underdog to nearly conscienceless criminal, is achieved through small steps - a gradual eroding of morals and shifting of ethics. It's made all the more heartbreaking because the individual at the center of this transformation is a 15-year old boy.
Liam (Martin Compston) is bright, tough, and resourceful. While awaiting his mother's release from prison, he lives with his sister, a single mother, in a small flat. (This after being kicked out of an apartment he shared with his vulgar, nasty-minded grandfather and his mother's cruel boyfriend, Stan.) Liam's primary desire in life is to liberate his mother from Stan's pernicious influence, and he will do anything to achieve that goal. One day, he sees a trailer for sale and believes that if he can collect enough money to buy it, he and his mother can live there together when she gets out. But the trailer is expensive, and Liam will not earn enough to buy it by selling stolen cigarettes at cut-rate prices. So he decides to branch out – into drug dealing.
Liam is not a user, but he has no problem selling once he steals a stash from Stan and his grandfather. The life of a dealer is not an easy one – Liam has to defend himself from those interested in getting his product without paying for it, and, as he becomes successful, he draws the attention of major drug dealers in the area, who are interesting in having Liam join their organization. In a way, the film plays out like a twisted Cinderella story, with Loach showing the relativistic morality that exists in the lower classes. Becoming a drug dealer is a way out of poverty – perhaps the only way out, and its seductive lure (that of fast cash) is impossible to resist for someone in Liam's position. He never considers the "evils" of drug use and addiction. Those are irrelevant. For him, selling drugs is like selling anything else.
Newcomer Martin Compston gives a riveting portrayal as Liam, the anti-hero who captures our sympathy. Compston, like almost everyone ever to appear in a Loach film, is as unknown as he is effective. One has to credit the director for his uncanny ability to unearth such impressive star material for each new endeavor. Compston has a thick Glasgow accent, but the English subtitles placed on the screen by the distributors ensure that audiences will not get lost.
Eschewing melodrama, Loach is able to present Liam's story in a frank, straightforward manner that shows how easily it is for someone in his position to become sucked into the criminal world. There's also a surprising amount of humor, especially during the first half. (One line, about the "definition of initiative" is laugh-aloud hilarious.) Yes, this is a political movie (at least it has a political viewpoint), but, more than that, it's a character study of an individual who will not easily be forgotten.
© 2003 James Berardinelli