filmbore pick of the week - Bronson

Bronson

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Screenplay: Brock Norman Brock, Nicolas Winding Refn
Starring: Tom Hardy, Juliet Oldfield, Matt King, James Lance
Year: 2008
Language: English
UK rental release: July 2009

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Both Tom Hardy and Nicolas Winding Refn are now household names due to their indelible stamp on recent film culture. Refn has astounded fans of multiple genres with the beautifully shot modern-western, Drive, while Hardy has wowed us with his scene-stealing performances in Inception and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy and owning the screen with ineffaceable force in Warrior and The Dark Knight Rises. However, many are yet to experience the dynamic combination of both the director and actor in their earlier collaboration, Bronson.

Michael Peterson (Tom Hardy) always wanted to be famous. Prior to taking the mantle of Charlie Bronson, after the American film star rocked the world with the impacting Death Wish (R.I.P. Michael Winner), Peterson was always misunderstood. He was always sharp and reflecting, but always found himself on the wrong side of the law.

Primarily, he was just a thief. In order to provide for his new young family, he fashioned his own sawn-off shotgun and attempted to rob the local post office. While he only managed to take £26.18 from his heist, he was still sentenced for seven years imprisonment. It wasn't until he started serving time though that he really felt like he had a place in the world.  

He challenged any authority with fists. Fighting his way through his term inside, he started to gain the kind of reputation that has led him to be revered as the "most violent prisoner in Britain". Wardens found him impossible to handle, even in large groups, and kept moving him from prison to prison as he left a a trail of bloodied uniforms in his wake. These events predictably kept extending his sentence, at one point even leading to him being certified as mad and to be held under medication at a hospital for the criminally insane.

He was also known for the odd bit of rioting, famously leading the inmates to numerous break-outs, holding off the local forces from the roofs of their own prisons. The costs of damage to the facilities from his actions were so high (£100,000 at one instance) that he was considered too expensive to keep locked up.

He experienced a brief moment of freedom. After visiting his parents, he met up with a comrade from his time inside, Paul Daniels (Matt King, of TV series Peep Show fame) to take up a career in bare-knuckle boxing. It's during this time, following the suggestion from Daniels, as his fight promoter, that he change his handle to one of a more theatrical nature. He was passed the moniker, Charles Bronson.

No fight was too much for Bronson. Sometimes taking on two men at once, even dogs were sent his way, all of which he handled with the relentless drive and power that he developed while in incarceration. But his new career was slow to move, and he wanted more out of his new East London "venture". Staying in the area, he met a new love interest in Alison (Juliet Oldfield), a young woman impressed by his physique and demeanour. In order to impress her, he wanted to give her a ring - of which he stole from a jewellery shop. Then ended his term of freedom.

Charlie Bronson has spent 34 years in prison, 30 of which have been in solitary confinement. Over the years, he has escalated to a celebrity status through his own means, including a late discovered talent in cartoon art. All of these key moments of his life are here for you to experience, and you may be surprised that even though this force of nature can chill from his known actions, you may just come to like him a little bit...

As a Brit myself, I was aware of some of the facts on Charles Bronson. I knew of his illegal fighting reputation and his continued violent outburts, but little else. So, on first watching Bronson, I was intrigued to understand why such a man, who took part in such animal acts, was so well known, and highly respected by some.

The story of Michael Peterson is an arresting one. The film takes you on a journey from our lead's own perspective, as a narrator, performer and prisoner. He explains his reasons for his crimes with blatant honesty, seeing partly no issue in what he does. But his enthusiasm rises when discussing his scuffles with his jailers. It's clear that this is where he really started to find his identity in unlocking his instincts and passions, and it's in telling these moments in such an unusual way that the film starts to grab your attention.

This is where Nicolas Winding Refn directorial style really flourishes. Instead of just playing out Charlie Bronson's life in the standard biopic format, we are treated to a stand-up comedy style telling of his past by the lead character, dressed in all manner of different guises, showing the flare and wildness of his mind and persona. Some events fleet past in newspaper cuttings, or slide shows (even real news footage at some points) and these moments break up the rest of the story perfectly. They also inject the necessary concoction of humour and drama needed to tell such a riveting tale.

For those of you who are fans of Refn's recent success, Drive, you'll recognise his lightning and angle techniques, sometimes crisp and highlighting, other times softened and moody, but you'll also be treated to some comical asides and sketches not attempted in his more well known revenge tale. For instance, his first encounter with Paul Daniels is completely off the wall, where two remarkable individuals first cross words over the politeness of serving a cup of English tea. There's a quirky sense to some of these scenes, lightening the general disposition of the piece before it brings you back down to earth with a left hook.

This cinematic fist is Tom Hardy. In order to gain the physically of the man he was about to play, he underwent a brutal training regime, basing it on the type of exercises Charles Bronson himself would have undertook locked in his cell. Even though his change in appearance is impressive, it's just muscular prosthetic really, as it's his engaging performance that truly wins over.

I may be a bit biased here, as I'm a huge fan of his work, but there's no mistaking Hardy's brilliance in Bronson. Even though he is not delivering an exact impersonation of the famed prisoner, he in fact embodies him in such a rich fashion you forget he's acting. His hypnotic execution is an example of an actor when he is absolutely on point, and he breathes such an incredible amount of life into this tale you'll find it difficult to not feel absolutely consumed by his presence on screen. Even the real man himself was amazed. Initially speaking with Charlie Bronson via the telephone, when Tom met with him in person after his training and of imbuing his character, Bronson was so impressed with Hardy's transformation and embodiment of himself that he reportedly shaved off his own trademark moustache for Tom to wear for the film!

Returning to a non-biased approach, I will admit that Bronson is love-it-or-hate-it film, splitting audiences for it's alternative approach to a biopic. Yet, I think it's the jaunty perspective taken by Refn that gives the piece an identity apart from other movies of this ilk, and it certainly has the vibe of a future cult classic. Whatever your view, you cannot disagree that this is stunning combination of both art house and British drama, thanks to Refn's creative hand and Hardy's direct representation of a underground icon.

Bronson was the first film that I had watched by Nicolas Winding Refn, so I had no idea what to expect. I am favourable to good biopic, but sometimes I don't just want an account of someone's life but also an interesting approach to the subject matter. What Refn has bravely attempted here with imaginative filming techniques is to draw you in, not just to the person we are dissecting but to the creative perspective that Charles Bronson himself appeared to feel. This makes watching the picture an overall more absorbing experience and you can't help but sit on the fence when considering some of his actions. There's no doubt that he is criminal in what he does, but the genius idea of allowing his persona to justify what he does is enlightening. Especially as it helps you to understand a man who rarely was.

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