Bronson

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

Genre: Drama/Biography/Crime/Action

Year: 2008

Michael Peterson (Tom Hardy; Layer Cake, RocknRolla) just wants to be famous. He knew he was destined for something big but he was born into mundane circumstances, to a nondescript family and really…he has a temper. What starts as bad behavior in school, petty thievery and yard fights, develops into the holding of a Post Office, where he acquires a small sum of money and seven years in prison after getting caught. And then the flood gates opened, because there, in that world of misfits and criminals, Michael Peterson, who later went on to adopt the alter ego — fighting name, as they called it — of Charlie Bronson, finds his place where he is feared, notorious and eventually goes on to become one of the most interesting and infamous people in the British penal system. The short sentence evolves, due to his unruly behavior; it develops into fight after fight and an eventual landing at an asylum for the criminally insane. With a brief stint in the real world after release — when the staff at the asylum figure out that he is simply too much of a liability in the institution, which apparently merits his release as certifiably sane — Peterson goes on to become a bare knuckles fighter in the underbelly of his hometown and inevitably lands back in prison where he remains.

Bronson, the film, is told from Michael Peterson’s own perspective, with a heavy dose of his unique personality splattered all over the screen, running in tandem with clever editing and a tongue in cheek use of epic music, this film is from the very opening scene a spectacle to behold, the one carnival creep show that makes your skin crawl and you are entirely unable to look away from. The fact that Refn (the director) gets us to care about this brutal man is more than a simple achievement, considering the raw, violent undertone that seeps through every scene in this film, with rising tensions that do not allow the audience to ever feel at peace while Bronson is present.

Indeed, the story is unforgiving and all the more disturbing considering the fact that it is based on a true story of a prisoner that has served more than 35 years in prison for a small robbery and around 20 of those years have been spend in solitary confinement. If anything, this film shows the downward spiral of this man who becomes the very violence he is drawn to, until it seems every quiet moment he presents is merely the silence before the next storm. One might think a film of this nature would be difficult to watch and with its numerous scenes where fists connect to faces and blood is drawn, one can hardly blame such a judgment; yet, it is Peterson’s own charisma, brilliantly channeled by Tom Hardy who becomes a star and carries this film expertly from beginning to end, not only in the story being told but even in the side scenes in which he is shown narrating, either lost in the dark of an undisclosed abyss or on a stage before a very lively crowd that hinges on his every word while he dons ironically elegant suits and mime face paint.

This movie is a must own, if you are able to bear the violence of its nature, but if nothing else a must watch, if only to witness Hardy’s stellar performance, Refn’s carefully orchestrated directing, Matthew Newman’s artistically timed editing or Larry Smith’s gifted cinematography. There is so much right with this picture that it is easy to overlook the few things that are wrong, namely some fighting choreography that falls a bit short of realistic, particularly when shown in slow motion and a not very well attached love subplot that feels rather empty in comparison to the rest of the film. While it might not be perfect, it is probably the most enjoyable nihilistic movie I have seen since Fight Club while at the same time making you wonder what is broken here, the man? The system? Or both?

Rating:

Comments: Extremely violent at times, disturbing imagery, nudity, language and adult situations.

Quote: Paul: All you need is a name.

Charles Bronson: What’s wrong with Mickey Peterson.

Paul: You need a fighting name, like a movie star.

Charles Bronson: Charlton Heston.

Paul: Look, love. No one gives a toss about Charlton Heston. The man’s a cunt. You’re more of the Charles Bronson type.