Harry Brown - Michael Caine
D.I. Alice Frampton - Emily Mortimer
Leonard Attwell - David Bradley
Noel Winter - Plan B
D.S Terry Hicock - Charlie Creed-miles
Stretch - Sean Harris
Kenny - Joseph Gilgun
Harry
Brown – Character
-
Older people are shown as frail victims.
Harry Brown breaks out of this stereotype. Younger people are shown as people
who terrorize and live out a life of crime.
Harry
Brown
- Harry Brown is first presented to
us as a lonely character.
- Harry Brown lives a dull
lifestyle. He lives out a routine lifestyle, with not much to do other than
clean his house.
- The constant cleaning of his
house shows him to be house proud. The importance of minute details is shown by
the close up shots of crumbs Harry Brown sweeps away.
- HB has little company.
- He was reliant on Kat for
company. The death of Kat meant he was truly alone and this just increases his
loneliness. This is represented cinematically with the long shot of him alone in
the ward after Kat’s death.
- HB’s friend, (Who was his only
friend) dies, which completely isolates Harry Brown.
- With no friends or family, this
“Nothing to lose” attitude may be the factor which causes HB to start his
revolt against the teenagers.
- Harry Brown watches the car
burglary from his window. He decides not to help, and instead physically hides
behind the curtain. This highlights his frailty and fear, shows how he is
physically unable to help, and the overall hopelessness of the situation.
- Harry Brown in the drug den is
his closest interaction with the crime corruption in the younger generation.
- Harry Brown is noticeably shocked
when he is inside the drug den. This is shown by the elongated shock of the
needle injection. This highlights Harry Brown’s shock at this.
- Harry Brown has morals, unlike
the younger generation portrayed in this film. He believes in helping the girl
in the drug den, whilst Stretch believes in only using her for sex. This also
brings in the theme of the difference and control between genders.
- Harry Brown is motivated by what
is right, the younger generation are shown to be motivated by money and their
own wellbeing.
- The plates become unclean and are
sitting in the sink. Now Harry Brown has motivation and something to do, he is
no longer stuck in his old routine.
- Harry Brown says he has many
medals and was originally in the marines. This is respected and considered
honourable by the detectives and his friend, but not so much (As far as we know)
from the younger. This suggests that either the younger generation don’t have
respect for honourable positions, or, that these previously considered
respectable positions are no longer important in this new culture.
- HB is shown to be a very caring
character. He isn’t particularly offended by insults to him, but is more hurt
by insults towards people he knew. He, unlike the characters in Kidulthood, is
very selfless rather than selfish.
- Killing is shown to mean a lot
more to HB than for the teenagers in the film. When HB kills, he does it
because of long-held values. He puts more deep thought into it and does it very
rarely and only when he thinks it’s necessary. When the teenagers kill, they do
it frequently and with little thought. They do not think about the long-term
implications. HB does, as we see him spend a lot of time after his first murder
cleaning up the evidence. The impact of going against his long-held beliefs is
a stark contrast with the teenager’s lack of values.
- HB, as a person, has changed by
the end of the film.
- HB is shown to be quite
insightful. “You didn’t come here to talk about chess”.
- HB isn’t motivated by money. He
gives the unconscious girl some of the money that he took from the drug dealer.
The rest of ot goes to the church.
The Younger
Generation
- The young teenagers are first
presented to us as drug-taking and violent. This gives a negative impression
straight from the start.
- The beginning of the film is
filmed as though it was filmed through a mobile phone. This is a common way of
distributing information in the technological world and specifically within the
younger generation.
- The younger generation, like HB
and the characters in Kidulthood, don’t have jobs, and do little in their day.
They haven’t got enough to do, and this might be why they carry out crimes.
- The younger generation
intentionally frighten the older generation.
- The gun seller doesn’t expect
Harry Brown to want a gun, and is suspicious to his real intent. This shows
that Harry Brown is going against common stereotypes and expectations of his
generation, and he does this throughout the rest of the film.
- The teenagers shown have few
morals and little empathy. They laugh when scaring the woman at the start of
the film. They also show little respect for Leonard, whom they killed.
- Like Kidulthood, the reason for
the behaviour of the younger generation may be to do with the fact that they
have no positive role models. The uncle at the end of the film is violent, and
gives little support to his nephew.
- Many of the characters in the
younger generation are shown to take drugs. It could be that drugs cause the
teens to be disobedient, or it is because they are disobedient that they do
drugs.
Leonard
- Leonard admits he is scared of
the teenagers.
- He says that he told the police,
but they did nothing. This suggests that there is some corruption or lax
attitude in the police in this film.
Alice
- Alice is in a typically
male-dominated role. She is one of the few women we see in the film, and the
other female we see in her line of work brings tea to the chief inspector. This
other woman is instructed to do things; and isn’t really acknowledged or
thanked by the male chief. The film
revolves around the idea of male control over females. This can be seen in the
disrespectful way one of the teens treats his girlfriend and Alice towards the
end of the film.
- Alice’s main handicap is her
emotions. She has empathy for HB, and warns the other inspector that he
shouldn’t be disrespectful of HB.
Other
Characters
- The receptionist at the hospital
is unsporting to Harry Brown when Kat has died.
- The mother of the accused boy
says “You’re always picking on him”. This suggests that the older generation
has preconceptions about the younger generation.
- The police are generally shown in
a negative way. Even though crime is obviously prominent on the estate, there
is a general lack of alarm or urgency in the police force.
Harry
Brown – Themes
- Crossing generations is a
frequent theme in this film.
- The film is mainly different from
Kidulthood as it is shown from the older generation’s perspective.
- Both generations are portrayed in
this film, similar to Kidulthood. The characteristics of each generation are
different. None of the younger generation are shown to be “Good” characters in
Harry Brown, but some are in Kidulthood. In turn, hardly any of the older
generation are shown to be “Good” characters in Kidulthood, but in Harry Brown,
they mostly are, especially the much older characters. (Harry and Leonard)
- There is the underlying theme of
Karma throughout the film. The teenagers on the bike at the beginning of the
film scare the woman, and then crash. This theme continues as Harry Brown kills
those that have led a life of crime.
- The film revolves around gender
and masculine dominance. Alice in a male dominated job and struggles to be
respected in it.
Harry
Brown – Mise en Scene
- The beige and dull colouring
inside the old people’s houses represents their dull lifestyle.
- Pathetic fallacy is used when Harry
Brown learns about Kat’s death. It is raining, and this tells us as an audience
that something bad has happened in the narrative.
- The underpass is Harry Brown’s
underlying goal. The only time he believes it is safe to walk through is at the
end of the film, when the teenagers are gone. The underpass reappears throughout the film,
and is HB’s overall aim.
- HB lives in a dull cement
building, similar to Kidulthood. HB lives a very dull and mediocre life, just
like the building.
- Society, like HB, has changed by
the end of the film. Children are playing on the estate, showing that it is now
safe. HB also walks under the underpass. He now feels safe.
- The Hospital is generally shown
to be a safe place in the film. The nurses are caring, and the lighting and
colours are fairly warm.
- The end of the film, when “crime
has been lowered”, it is sunny. It is one of the; (If not the only) time the
sun has been out, and this represents that the estate is now a safer, warmer,
kinder place. There is hope for the next generation.
