Ill Manors - Film Review

Ill Manors is the 2012 debut British urban crime drama set in east London from singer/songwriter Ben Drew, more professionally known as Plan B.

This film successfully outlines the gritty, harsh realities of the lives of young people living without the right guidance or morals on the mean streets of the East End during the time of the 2011 London riots which are acknowledged in the film's music video; less so in the film itself. The cast of this film consists of actors that are probably less known to the film's audience e.g. Riz Ahmed (Four Lions), Ed Skrein (Game of Thrones), Natalie Press (My Summer of Love), Keith Coggins, Anouska Mond and Lee Allen. The benefit of casting less known actors in a film like this is that it creates a strong sense of realism and allows the audience to bond with the characters more and have more of an emotional response to the issues communicated and therefore possibly change any predetermined views they may have had on the British youth.

Ill Manors' portrayal of British young people living at the time of the London riots does support some of the dominant stereotypes that are frequently reinforced by society and the media but what it also does that the media doesn't do is tell the audience why some young people are led astray and almost forced into this lifestyle and it gives the audience the opportunity to understand their situations rather than make judgements. Characters such as Jake and Chanel are interesting because they represent the younger teenagers susceptible to being drawn into the 'gang' lifestyle by older, more manipulative people and while they think they are entering a 'better' lifestyle, they are ultimately bringing themselves into situations worse than the ones they are already in, situations that will have inevitably bad consequences. The structure of the film's narrative is very cleverly manipulated in ways that initially give us the opportunity to make judgements on the decisions made by certain characters before being told their genuine reasons/justification for doing what they do. A good example of this is when Katya leaves her baby on the train and as an audience we initially think of her as being selfish and thoughtless and we dislike her for abandoning her baby but when we learn her reasons for doing it, our opinions change immediately and we feel guilty for thinking whatever we may have previously thought about her.

Personally I think this film is very successful in illustrating the brutality and hardship of living as a misguided young person in London and, as mentioned before, making known the real reasons for why some young people with little choice or opportunity are unknowingly misled into circumstances that are virtually impossible to get out of. The small events that happen in the film and our reactions to them are representative of society's fixed view of young people but then our exposure to the reasons behind some of the events that occur is what makes us stop and think and change our assumptions and consider every possible reason that could be behind the things we see.