Review No.178: The Angel's Share

Next up for the new style review treatment is Ken Loach's The Angel's Share

Plot: The Glasgow-set film sees repeat offender Robbie given community service for his latest crime which sees him winding up in the care of Harry played by the wonderful John Henshaw. On Robbie's first day of Community Service his girlfriend Leonie goes into labour and when Harry drives him to the hospital he witnesses being beaten up by two of Leonie's uncles who warn him off their niece. Harry takes Robbie under his wing and is amazed by his nose for whisky when he takes his community service charges on a day out to a distillery. As Robbie agrees to meet up with one of his former victims he realises that he must leave Glasgow with his young father and spots a way to do this when a priceless cask of whisky comes on the market. Accompanied by his community service pals Robbie comes up with a plan to steal out of the cask but it remains to be seen whether his plan will be successful or not.

Positives: This is possibly one of Ken Loach's most comic pieces to date as he mixes in broadly comic characters, such as the idiotic Albert, with the more humanistic drama that he's known for. Screenwriter Paul Laverty creates some incredibly well-rounded characters with Robbie especially coming across as incredibly believable as he's someone who has become a victim of his circumstances. Despite Robbie inflicting both physical and emotional pain in his past you can't help but feel for him in the scenes in which Leonie's family tries to separate him from his girlfriend and child. The believability of the character is heightened by the performance of relative newcomer Paul Brannigan who is incredibly sympathetic but also commands authority when he takes charge of the bunch of community service misfits. John Henshaw is also used well as Harry an incredibly warm man who actually takes his job as a way to find a better life for some of these repeat offenders. The latter part of the film in which the gang attempt to steal the whisky has an Ealing comedy vibe about it and as a fan of that particular brand of film I really enjoyed it.

Negatives: You could say that the robbery scenes do stretch credibility while I personally would've liked to have known more about Robbie's community service cohorts.

Verdict: A warm, funny and heart-warming tale with a sympathetic central character and a great screwball plot that never loses all of the edge that we've come to know from Loach so for all those reasons the film gets an 8.5/10