Born Equal
| Born Equal | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Dominic Savage |
| Produced by | Ruth Caleb Lucy Hillman |
| Written by | Dominic Savage |
| Starring | Robert Carlyle Colin Firth Peter O'Connor Nicholas Burns |
| Music by | Rupert Gregson-Williams |
| Cinematography | Danny Cohen |
| Editing by | David G. Hill |
| Release date(s) | 4 December 2006 |
| Running time | 83 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Born Equal[1] is a television film produced for the BBC exploring aspects of poverty, race, inequality, homelessness, immigration and class in modern Britain. Written and directed by Dominic Savage and starring Colin Firth, Robert Carlyle, David Oyelowo, Anne-Marie Duff, and Emilia Fox, it was likened to a British version of the Oscar-winning Crash.[2] Its working title was London/The London Project--and another proposed title was To Have and Have Not--but by the time of its broadcast on BBC 1 on 17 December 2006 it had been renamed.
Among other noteworthy features, the film was not scripted--the actors improvised their lines with the cameras rolling, working with no script and no rehearsals.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Mark (Colin Firth) lives in central London with his wife Laura (Emilia Fox), who is expecting a baby, in a large house in an upperclass estate. After making a huge financial killing with his City of London firm, Mark--having refused to give a homeless man any cash--begins to feel guilty about his success and life of luxury. He returns to find the homeless man, "sleeping rough" in the Underground, and gives him 100 pounds. Mark resolves to use his financial position to help the poor. It becomes clear that he is also using his newfound concern with the poor to escape from his wife and the coming baby, and that he feels trapped and frightened by his life.
Robert (Robert Carlyle), a violent repeat-offender; has been released from prison; he moves into a hostel in London, where he meets the pregnant Michelle (Anne-Marie Duff), who has been placed in the same hostel by social workers because her husband has been beating her. Robert and Michelle form a romantic relationship of sorts, while Robert continues his quest to find his mother, whom he has not seen in many years.
Also living in the hostel is Nigerian journalist Yemi (David Oyelowo) with his wife (Nikki Amuka-Bird)and child, working as kitchen help in a restaurant and desperate to raise 5,000 pounds to bring his father from Nigeria to London, before the political gangs who drove Yemi out of Nigeria kill the father.
Mark's attempts to help the poor ultimately fail, leading to disaster for himself and others. He has worked with the same social workers who placed Michelle in the hostel; he helps the social workers to place 17-year-old homeless girl Zoe there. He becomes inordinately close to Zoe, almost falling into a sexual relationship with her, before rejecting her advances and returning home to his wife, now heavily pregnant and distraught at his absences, convinced that he is having an affair.
Robert's relationship with Michelle falls apart when he finds that his mother died while he was in prison. He is not there when Michelle goes into labor. Instead, walking back to the hostel, he is almost hit by a car--driven by Mark, and carrying Mark and his wife Laura home after a dinner out at which they have resolved their differences and he has told her what he has been doing--tells her he had lost his way and apologizes to her for having been so cruel in his neglect. Enraged to the point of psychosis by the near-accident, Robert follows Mark and Laura home, knife in hand. When Mark comes to the door, Robert stabs him.
With Mark dead and Robert in prison, Laura and Michelle both give birth--their babies, born fatherless, are born equal.
[edit] Cast
- Robert Carlyle – Robert
- Peter O'Connor – Hostel Manager
- Colin Firth – Mark
- Nicholas Burns – Michael
- Pearce Quigley – Beggar 1
- Anne-Marie Duff – Michelle
- Gemma Barrett – Danielle
- Charlie Creed-Miles – Man in Hostel
- Emilia Fox – Laura
- David Oyelowo – Yemi
- Nikki Amuka-Bird – Itshe
- Anne-Marie Bossman – Adanna
- Megan Dodds – Anastasia
- Toby Kebbell – Beggar 2
- Antonio Pelayo – Kitchen Cleaner
- Julia Davis – Sally
- Nichola Burley – Zoe
- Joanne Adams – Shop Assistant
- Emily Woof – Sandra
- Ria Haydon – Midwife
[edit] Notes
- ^ BBC site for Born Equal
- ^ Race drama tipped as a British Crash, The Daily Mail, 7 April 2006
