Freight

British Crime Drama

Icon Home Entertainment

R4

This film once again asserts the position of Britain as a maker of fine crime films. They do not make the carefully sanitised films that are becoming prevalent in the U.S. British films are violent, antisocial and far more realistic.

The plot confronts the people-smuggling issues of such concern in Britain today. The human trade is largely in the hands of organised criminal gangs. In this case, it is a Romanian gang led by the completely amoral and vicious Cristi. He smuggles Romanian people into Britain in freight containers. He then demands that they pay their way by working for him. The men will be fodder for the illegal fights that he runs. The women will be put into prostitution. He has special clients for little girls.

Gabe Taylor (played by Billy Murray, most notable for his role as a bent detective in The Bill) is an ex-criminal who is now going straight. He is also ex-SAS and seems to have lost none of his hardness. His daughter is kidnapped by Cristi’s men on the eve of her wedding and Cristi threatens all out war against Gabe. When one of Gabe’s sons is murdered he takes up Cristi’s threat and the war begins. Many of Gabe’s men look like hard cases as well, so he is well prepared to carry the fight to Cristi. He is stunned by the sheer ferocity of Cristi’s methods – kidnapping, murder, bombs, and fights to the death. Cristi does not appear to be psychotic, just brutally violent. He is a man to be feared. But now that he has been provoked, so is Gabe.

When confronting Gabe, Cristi makes a telling point – he acts like this because he can. The British do little against him so why shouldn’t he treat the country as his own?

The film is very skilfully acted and directed. It is filled out with a good range of interviews and featurettes, and even a photo gallery.

The action doesn’t slow down as the war escalates. There are no little moments of humour to lighten the film, as in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. It is uncompromising and bleak. Even the background music track is dark and brooding and suits the film perfectly. The film is great entertainment in the British no-holds-barred style. It’s definitely worth watching.

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