The Selfish Giant
Dir: Clio Barnard
2013
*****
I really liked Clio Barnard's 2010 The Arbor, a film about the life and work of Bradford's Andrea Dunbar. The Selfish Giant takes us back to Bradford but this time it's Oscar Wilde who is inspiration. It's not quite same Selfish Giant story I remember as a child and far less religious but I think that is the point. It all comes back to childhood, a very hard and very real childhood for some people. The big question is who or what is the Selfish Giant? The scrap dealer (Sean Gilder) who illegally hires children to do dangerous cheap labour is the obvious choice but then what about the education system, the school that lazily expels unruly children, social services, local council, Government, society in general, us. Maybe we're the Selfish Giant, we let this happen just as long as it isn't happening to us. This story of two young friends is what real cinema is about. Miss it at your own peril.