Pre-Production: British Social Realism in the headlines

A child of only 34 days was found dead after neglect from his alcoholic mother who's primary accommodation was a sofa in a friends house.

This story would make a great British Social Realism film as it conforms to some key conventions of the genre. The main character, the mother, has a problem with alcohol and has mental problems (see right) below which is typical of a BSR film. She has a string of criminal convictions which connotes she anti-authoritative and goes against the natural order of things, also typical of the genre.

I would get Kierston Wareing (The Take, Fish Tank) to play this role as this is the type of character she is used to playing. The distressed mother, usually alcoholic and promiscuous. I believe that she would play the character convincingly and passionately.

This story also includes flaws in the British health care structure, showing big agencies and companies failing to protect the life of a young helpless child.

The film would be about the mother's fight with alcohol and drugs, extreme pressure from the press and slating of the media. It would follow her through her court cases. An old friend from school who took the opposite path to the mother takes on her case as her legal representative. There would be a struggle with the friend trying to keep the mother clean and fighting for her legally. The film would outline flaws in the health care system. The mother would be sentenced. In jail she starts a campaign against the health care system, gets clean and turns her life around. She's let out to a suposedly new life. But people don't forget, not do they forgive. She's tormented and abused by the public and ends up turning to the bottle again. The end scene would be her sitting in her gritty flat, shaking, cigarette in one hand, bottle of unbranded vodka in the other, staring at a photo of her in hospital with her newborn baby that she lost.

I think a good director would be Steve McQueen, after his work in Hunger and Shame. His minimalist, artistic style would work well with the gritty storyline of the film

•Why is it important that British social realism films have a theme or ideology?
•What is unique about the themes and ideologies in British social realism films?
•Is there a pattern in the themes and ideologies presented in British social realism films?

It is important for British Social Realism films to have a theme or ideology as this is what the target audience want and it is in keeping with the ethos of the genre, the genre is to show a true representation of struggles in real life. And so a BSR will take on a gritty or real life theme, such as illicit substance abuse or controversial matters that mainstream films wouldn't touch because there's a risk they'd lose money. There is a pattern within this, that the films maybe even repeat them selves when it comes to themes, as there is a limit to the themes and ideologies that BSR can explore.