Life doesn’t offer many second chances, and neither does director Ken Loach, usually. Loach is known for films that address social issues, depicting situations with gritty, unrelenting fidelity to situation and character. At first glance, Angel’s Share resembles the director’s previous films in its focus on the rough side of life. For someone like Robbie (Paul Brannigan), the film’s protagonist, life is a daily struggle, a never-ending cycle of violence and poverty. He’s already done time, he has no money or education, and whether it’s jail or community service and back to the streets, his enemies are there, waiting for revenge. No wonder he’s angry.
Not much to laugh about there, you’d think, but that’s where you’d be wrong.
Without any attempt to soften the rough edges or deny Robbie’s fear and hopelessness, Loach succeeds in offering a perspective on people and circumstances in Angel’s Share that reveals the inherent humor of the human condition in all its hilarious improbability. It turns out that we humans are quite amusing as we stumble, fall and flail about, as vividly impressed on the viewer in the film’s opening scene.
Director Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty, who have collaborated on several films, including Carla’s Song (1996), Bread and Roses (2000), Sweet Sixteen (2002), and The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006), observe Robbie and his cohorts with an affectionate gaze, even in their most vulnerable, wretched or foolish moments, imbuing the film with genuine warmth. A little fictional “what if” goes a long way in this film; Angel’s Share is a terrific hybrid of social realism/comedy/action movie with a touch of romance thrown in to keep it all together.
An understanding of people and emotions underlies the plot, giving it depth and greater impact. Robbie and his friends stay pretty much as they are; there are no magical, sudden life-altering transformations here, just the realization that it is possible to make different choices, and having a good laugh or a shot of whiskey doesn’t hurt either.
Angel’s Share will open at Orlando Cinema, ZOA House, 26 Ibn Gvirol St. Tel Aviv, on September 27, 2012 – and other theatres.
