Neds

Neds - directed by Peter Mullan in 2010

For all those who are not from Scotland and have never seen Chewin' the Fat or Still Game, a Ned is an acronym of a Non-Educated Delinquent. What would they be called in English culture? Maybe....Chavs,Choras, Scallies, Twockers. Whatever you call the type, they’re generally the underclasses who have turned to anti-social behaviour, violent crime and other forms of social deviance. 

Neds is a part-biographical adaptation of the director, Peter Mullan’s, childhood. It stars Conor McCarron as the young boy ‘John McGill’, a boy who has just left primary school as one of its star pupils. John has been protected though out his upbringing by his family as they fear he will grow up to be just like his older brother, Benjamin McGill (who was expelled after he assaulted two teachers.)  John is excited about the prospects of Secondary school and has high ambitions, wanting to go to university and, above all, making his mother and his auntie proud of him. However, from the start of the film we see that John has his work cut out for him as the harsh reality hits him, and us, in the face when he is confronted by a Ned. Literally 3 minutes into the film we hear the soon to be immortal line ‘you’re gonna get your cunt kicked in’ (Kind of ‘raises the bar’, doesn't it?). 

This film could easily be tagged as a ‘coming of age’ film. In fact, it is really.  It shows John in the first year in Secondary school, being placed into the ‘stupid’ group as opposed to the ‘smart’ class that he craved to be in. John gets his wish after the winter holidays and is on his way to the similar glory that he attained whilst at Primary school. He is warned at the end of the year to be careful what he gets up to in the summer holidays by a ‘considerate’ teacher (incidentally, the teachers in this film are the pure cliche type that you would expect in any retrospective British film, however, they are hysterical!). This warning is not taken on however, and John becomes wrapped up in a new lifestyle that he has been avoiding for years. This leads John into a similar tale that has been heard before... Rises to his desired level of social fame, gets carried away, and hurts those around him. Does he get out of this downward spiral? I’ll let you lot come to that conclusion. 

Neds is what we have come to expect from a man such as Peter Mullins’ background. It is another one of the ‘Brit-Grit’ films of the post-new wave era. Mullins tries to tell it like it is, or was, and from that he does a good job. He keeps it as realistic as possible (although this could be argued in some of the later scenes of violence). He does this by using home-grown talent as opposed to actors and keeps the dialect as local as possible (I sometimes struggled with what was being said and I like to think I’m okay with taking in Glaswegian accents). However, there is the unfortunate sense that, this type of film has been done before. It is dramatic and at times it is shocking, you wonder if the situation has changed for the city’s youth, if things are better. You dread to think that there have been children who have witnessed such scenes of graphic violence.  However, there is still a feeling that it has been done before. However, maybe there are ulterior motives? Films of this nature often try to change what is happening or to get across the social dilemmas that people face. Perhaps this film is different, the level of humour within it shows to me that this film is just an example of the ordinary? Not a warning or a statement; simply showing that this is life for some.

If you wish to read more click below. However I do warn you – there are some spoilers so perhaps you should watch the film first.

Neds, as you would imagine has a deep running theme of class within it. As you may associate, Neds are heavily linked with the working class/under class. Our protagonist, John, is indeed working class. However, at the start of this film, he aspires to be more. There are hints that suggest that John wants to be middle class, his speech is more formal, he dresses in a more presentable manner and he tries his hardest to achieve more merits on an academic level. John is hated for this by his peers, in the ‘stupid’ class at school, John is praised for his 100% exam paper – you can feel the hate building up in all the other students as John is asked to stand on his desk like some form of scholarly messiah. From this, he is isolated, has no friends at school and has no one to relate to. It seems that in this world, there is no reward for ‘self-improvement’.  John soon learns that in order to lead a good life, he needs to ‘fit in’ with those around him. This comes to him with a stroke of luck. He is moments away from a mugging and a beating, until one of the Neds realises that John is the little brother of Benny. From here, the five lads who were ready to pounce on him have backed off. One boy has even offered John a drink of vodka. This is like a lightening bolt to John! What gets recognition from his peers in this world is fear. In the new school year – John is born again hard.  Next thing you know – he’s the Caledonian Ray Winstone, with tools, booze and additional sex drive. 

Mullan’s plays John’s Father. An alcoholic who seems to be as aggressive and violent towards his family yet we do not see any acts of violence carried out. This may be due to the stereotype of dysfunctional families, however you can detect it is there. He constantly appears to be drunk and is always verbally abusing his wife/John’s mother. As the movie goes on, a part of you starts to pity John’s father. The monotonous, repetitive routine soon fades from a feeling of despair on his families’ side, to a sensation of sympathy. Nightly, it seems, his father is constantly ‘picking a fight’ with his wife, more often than not getting no reaction. Until John has enough. His father is heavily beaten. This proves to be a pivotal point in the film. Here, John is forced to leave his home, is alienated from his family and his peers and is rendered homeless. He has taken his new violent path to new highs, which intimidates too many. John at this point turns to a popular 70s drug....glue. Having never inhaled glue I can not fully see what affect it has, I would question if it would be considered a hallucinogenic. Homeless, cold and no one looking after him...John collapses outside a local church, where a statue of Jesus where John pleads with him to ‘get rid of all the scum’ in the land. The visualised Jesus, then attacks John. John is left with no other choice to kill Jesus.Whether it is a hallucination or a metaphorical attack on John’s own beliefs is unknown. I guess that’s down to the viewer.

Neds is a film that tries to show its audience the consequences of a person’s actions, however, it also offers redemption. Which, mentioned earlier, is exactly what many other ‘coming of age’ films do.  Here, John has learnt his lesson and is saved by the very person he took out his anger on – his father. His father brings him back to the family home and asks John to do what is considered the most shocking part of the film...to ‘finish the job’ and put John’s father out of his misery.  John at first is willing to do this, and prepares for it. However something changes in John, his father’s weakness has made him realise that the neglect he has received from his father is the result of his father’s upbringing. He realises that he himself is making the same mistakes as his father and offers an alternative. He hugs his father, something that does not happen in that world at that time. John, after a talk with the headmaster, goes back to school and is in the ‘special’ group. He meets a boy with severe head injuries, his face is familiar. It’s the same boy who threatened John in one of the opening scenes. It’s the same boy who John violently attacked. This acts as a constant reminder to John that the price of social fame is very costly.

What I found interesting about this film is the (lack of) scenes of violence. Now, I am not saying the film isn’t violent – it really is. However, the display of violence is not shown as some more recent films may demonstrate. There are no graphic scenes but it is just as affective. In the first two ‘fight scenes’ you barely see a punch being thrown. There are scuffles and lots of wrestling to the ground, but on a whole little is shown. In fact, it is only until the 3^rd violent scene where we are truly visually shocked. This suggests that perhaps Mullan has tried to show that in this way of life – violence is a normal thing. This could be pointed out at the start of the film where Fergie, a friend of Benny’s, mocks John for his ‘weak’ behaviour. He jokingly puts the blame on the parents and their failure to socially-educate John.  Knives are used within the local gangs, however the knives are used by people as young as 12. This too, is a sign of the casual aggression that is embedded within this film. To its audience, or its non-Glaswegian audience, a knife on someone as young as 12 is shocking; to this world, it is just an ordinary day and so does not need to be highlighted with any visual or audio aid.

Neds offers to us all what life in 1970s Glasgow was like. It had gangs, poverty and violence, Glam-Rock and  leather coats. Pretty similar to modern day Glasgow, really. However, if Neds shows us anything it's this: This is an average way of life for some people in the world. Where as some people may see monsters, others see heroes.

GPK