Bronson (2008)

Not the most enjoyable film. A difficult watch. But I liked it.

I like the way it depicts a man who's struggling to find a place in the world, but doesn't even know it. He struggles to cope with life in the real world (irrational bouts of extreme violence, not knowing the niceties of relationships and his standing in them) and confused about his motivations (if any) in prison.

The mental asylum is Bronson's most tangible prison: the ability to 'feel', 'do', even to 'think' is denied him, drugged beyond all sensation. Beyond that, rampant recklessness and chaos is his true freedom, in whatever capacity available to him. The imagery of babies, and being naked is a pertinent one: he's just being himself, purely, unashamedly, and ironically, quite innocently... The metaphor of his life being like a stand-up comedy act is also apt. Comedy and tragedy are often not too far away from eachother... And it seems he enjoyed a notorious celebrity status amongst the UK press, much to their salacious entertainent.

Like Kubrick's Clockwork Orange, it questions the role of State, and it criticises the more established hierarchies of 70s Britain (and to a certain extent today). What do you do with someone who is prone to violence and refuses to comply, over a period of 26 years? Being set free was a shocking response, considering his apparent cost to the taxpayer... What would you do?

Reminds me of a line in Robert Rodriguez's 'Sin City': "He was just born in the wrong century. Would have been at home on the battlefield, wielding a battle-axe in war" - or words to that effect.

An astonishingly brave and courageous performance from Tom Hardy (a personal favourite actor of mine). Seems to have undergone a transformation akin to Christian Bale in The Machinist - only the other way...