Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
Cast: Olivia Coleman, Anita Dobson, Tom Hardy, Kate Fleetwood, Paul Thornley, Eloise Laurence, Philip Howard, Lynne Wilmot, Janet Henfrey, Calvin Demba, Nicola Sloane, Jenny Galloway, Gillian Bevan, Rosalie Craig, Alecky Blythe, Michael Shaeffer, Rae Baker, Paul Hilton, Nick Holder, Howard Ward, Linzi Hateley, Hal Fowler, Alexia Khadime, Meg Suddaby, Dean Nolan.
It won’t be the first film or musical to be made after a killing spree but London Road is perhaps arguably one of the first in which deals with how a community that had the viper in its nest, deals with the infamy attached to its soul once the murderer has been locked away from society.
The murder of five prostitutes in the Ipswich area in 2006 is still fresh in the memory, for the residents of the road which housed the killer, the nightmare still hangs in the air but rather than descending into the realms in which other places find themselves sinking. The residents fought back, fought back against the rising spectre of crime, of increased visible prostitution and blight and gave their homes and lives a reason to be seen as being good again.
Taken from actual accounts and interviews, London Road is a rare piece of film making which strives to give a side to a story that never gets seen in the public eye, that of those also affected by the destruction wrought by one person.
London Road is one of those true ensemble pieces that without any particular character or performer, the whole piece would be a shadow of what it could be. With fine performances from the likes of Olivia Coleman as Julie, Kate Fleetwood as the haunted prostitute Vicky and Paul Thornley as Dodge, London Road is arguably a film not to be missed.
The finished production certainly has the hallmarks of a film that will go down in history as capturing a moment in time for which the nation was gripped by the goings on in the town of Ipswich and the sheer feeling of the weight of responsibility felt by the residents of the once quiet road. The cinema goer though might find the whole point of it, less than a decade on from the brutality and perhaps the sense of shame and indignity, a bit too much to truly comprehend and at times it does feel as though it slips into the happy ever after complications faced by many musicals in which the truth of the matter is dislodged for the sake of a good tune.
London Road is though very laudable in its attempt to shine a positive light into the darkness that occupies a place and a person’s heart and one in which, if not carefully handled, can become associated with those senseless crimes forever. The dead are not the only ones to be haunted by the feelings or utter remorse.
A well meaning look at a society pulled back from the brink of despair, one in which should be viewed with perhaps an arm’s length perception but certainly should be seen.
Ian D. Hall