Liam (2000)

Megan Burns gets burnt.

Teresa (Megan Burns) and her brother Liam (Anthony Burrows)are growing up in England as the depression is hitting its full stride. Their father is out of work and looking for people to blame, their mother is riddled with critical diatribes towards her children, and both the children are looking for answers.

Young Liam turns awkwardly towards the Catholic orthodoxy while Teresa begins working for a prosperous Jewish family. Their father, meanwhile, turns toward the local fascist thugs for answers. Through it all, we: the viewers, can see it coming as we whisper, "Here it comes. Won't be long now until all things converge and someone is left getting...."

Liam offers a glimpse into what happens when parents let their emotions dictate their decisions and all but offer their children up as the second-hand victims of those choices. I enjoyed this film but the subject matter is certainly not for everyone, especially the end that is anything but uplifting. Well-acted, especially by the two main principle actors in Burns and Burrows. May 2, 2008

unfortunately

unfortunately i am unable to view the film liam as i am in the uk and the film is formated for the USA and Canada,my fault for not going to Amazon UK August 27, 2007

HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT - A HORRIFIYINLY VERY SAD Mis-use of what God Teaches !

This movie was a HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT!! There was so much hype about how GOOD this movie was and the sweet little boy in the movie and his bravery that we bought the movie only to be horrified of what they do to these children and the lack of "real quality" storyline. The storyline is missing so much and the parents of this little boy should be shot or perhaps the writer should be shot for even making this movie. If they had added some real depth and detail other than the depressed state of this poor family and stuck with the child's life in more detail then the movie might have been worth the $18.00 we paid!! This is a very over-rated and poorly portrayed movie and I highly DO NOT RECOMMEND IT!!! July 24, 2006

How deep can hell be ?

Gut-clutching. Frears is so universal when he starts getting down into the spasms of our entirely repressed freedom. Here the repression comes from the catholic church and the catholic faith that is transformed into a pilory of flames, hells sins, blazes, punishments, retaliations, guilts, and so many other vexations and humiliations that you remain like Liam, speechless and wordless in front of the denied basic human need for communication. The little Jesus of this fundamentalistic catholic vision of the world has got your tongue. But then you have the creeping or at times pouncing unemployment that bosses create by closing their factories for no reason whatsoever, no reason explained or given to the fired workers, those who get the flames of unemployment, the sack of the dole in which they are huddled to be drowned in the next canal, and the blinders of humble annihilation that makes them pay a pint of lager to their prospective day-employer if they want him to choose them on the folllowing morning. This builds up in the consciousness of the workers and little by little the time-old survival instinct tells them there must be one person responsible somewhere, a scapegoat that can be eliminated, and the Jews become the natural preys of this survival of the most alienated: the pawnbroker's shop first, the rich employer of the daughter second, etc. And here Frears becomes a genius by linking all the strings together: the priest tells the girl, in confession mind you, to get away from this Jewish family that makes her sin, the father has become a member of the fascist commando that is going to strike this Jewish home exactly when the girl is inside telling them she won't be working for them any more, Liam's speechlessness that prevents him from telling his father about his sister's presence in the house and the Molotov cocktail that ignites the daughter and/or sister and practically nothing else. There the film reaches the level of a visitation to the real hell these people are living in, their mental submissive and subservient alienation, when the incendiary father has to come and visit his daughter out of the hospital and she apologizes for having been there at the wrong moment. An angel crosses the screen. The Holy Spirit might exist after all: in Liam's eyes when watching this absurd world created by a father, THE father, God of course. Amen.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Paris Dauphine & University of Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne
June 18, 2006

A Different View of Working Class England

If I were to think of one word to describe the film LIAM, harsh would probably be the first to come to mind. The setting in 1930's working class England is harsh. Daily life is harsh with little solace. The personalities are harsh and even in places where people try to find respite, whether it is in religion or with friends, harshness is all that can be found.

We see the story through the eyes of Liam Sullivan, a young boy about First Communion age. Liam has a speech impediment which makes some people dismiss him but we realize he is more observant than some realize. Liam's father is hardly likable from the beginning, and or dislike of him only grows throughout the film. He hates the Jews and makes his hatred known. He also hates the Irish even though his name is Sullivan, claiming to be British because he was born in the country. Liam's mother is trying to do her bets to keep the family together, but the stress seems too much for her. Liam also lives with his sister Teresa who works as a made for a Jewish family, getting the job by announcing she's not Catholic, believing denying her faith will be an advantage, and an older brother Con.

The film always keeps its edge, never veering toward the sentimental. It never becomes a feel good film but leaves the viewer thinking and questioning. We see a side of pre-war England we forget existed and don't always see in film-one that sympathizes with socialism and with its anti-Semitism could easily have fallen in line with the Nazis who would have been gaining ground in continental Europe at the time. The film is not without flaws. While it cannot be denied that the Catholicism of the era was rigid, the film relies on stereotypes that would be unacceptable in films that depict other faiths. At times the priest and religion teacher are caricatures, the emphasis of the faith is somewhat inaccurate as afar as British Catholicism is concerned (Ireland would be a different story), and seem to be present only as a swipe against Catholicism. Teresa's denial of her faith is original and could have been explored more deeply and Liam's fear sins of the flesh could have been downplayed. To some extent its climax may be a bit to coincidental, but it still retains some power.
February 14, 2006

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