Boy A

What do we do with children who commit horrible crimes? I started thinking about this earlier this week apropos of the court case where 4 young men from Melton belted up a Sudanese boy. They embodied everything that is unseen about the underbelly of this society; racist, largely unrepentant, low levels of schooling and likely to breed way more kids than anyone in my bubble of acquaintance. The barrister representing one of them reckoned that he should be excused a jail term because his poor access to schooling had left him bereft of a value structure! I really don’t know what should happen in cases like this. One writer to The Age suggested that these boys should be sent to the Sudan to experience a community where schooling is really hard to access!

I saw the English film Boy A last night. It’s won some awards and will probably get a commercial release. It follows the experiences of a young man, in his early 20s, who has just been released from jail after committing some sort of horrible crime. We don’t find out immediately, which creates a level of tension and interest that combines with the tension and interest as to whether ‘Jack’ is going to be able to survive with a new identity in a new town.

He is likeable. The actor Andrew Garfield, does a fantastic job of playing this young guy who has missed out on some of the key milestones in a teenager’s life and doesn’t know how to behave. He is shy and gawky and easy to like but all the time, you’re wondering what he did and what will befall him. The film is also about families; ‘Jack’ is supported by a parole officer with a son of about the same age. To some extent, the film is about the old Philip Larkin ‘They fuck you up…’ riff. Fathers and sons. Abuse. To what extent can you use your family (or poor schooling) as an excuse for your behaviour. It’s a well-told story but I am no closer to having any idea what should happen to those Melton boguns…