Well, this is a genuine oddity. Released to coincide with the election, this is set on May 3rd 1979, on the night Margaret Thatcher came to power. For those too young to remember, the SUS law was the informal term for the polices power to hold and arrest anyone looking or behaving suspiciously. Young black people were regularly held for no reason, and it resulted in the riots of 1981.
Barrie Keeffe, writer of The Long Good Friday, was so appalled by the law and its results he wrote a play, which examined the ramifications of not just the legal system but the whole notion of institutionalised racism in Britain. Now, 30 years on, the play has been filmed but why now? Thats a pretty good question, and there is no really easy answer perhaps because David Cameron is determined to give similar powers to the police. Its still slightly inexplicable to make a play from 1979 now though.
Set in a bare police interview room over that fateful night, it has just three characters. The excellent Ralph Brown yes, Danny the Dealer from Withnail & I is Inspector Karn, a boorish, gobby policeman literally licking his lips at the thought of a Tory Government. He knows he will benefit in two ways, a 40% pay rise, and more powers to detain people on a whim. His sidekick is Spalls PC Wilby, who is the gormless muscle. They have arrested a young black man, Delroy (Dyer, also excellent), and interview, prod, charm and beat him over the long hours of election night.
Initially their exchanges are playful, even funny Delroy is unfazed by the arrest, as he has been picked up by the police so many times on SUS. Blimey, well have to start making up convictions if they are getting used to it bellows Karn. However, slowly, the mood turns dark, as Delroy realises he is actually being arrested on suspicion of murder his wife, it transpires, is dead in their flat while he was out boozing. Delroy breaks down, but is he actually the killer, as the two coppers clearly believe?
It must have been up there with plays like The Comedians as a great piece of agit-prop theatre in 1979, but here and now on the big screen it feels strangely out of synch. It is clearly a play, and too little has been done to turn it into a movie the dialogue is stilted, and the visuals can do little more than show a bare room with three people in it. However the story does take a hold, and Karns slow revealing of his deep-rooted racism is all the more powerful as he is clearly an intelligent man in some ways. Delroys journey from cocky geezer to a broken man is both moving and dignified, and rightly he has the last word. At the end of the 96 minutes though I felt like Id seen a trilogy.
Overall Verdict: Stilted version of a political play which still packs a punch if you can stick with it.
Reviewer: Mike Martin