Writer and Director: Peter Mullan
Starring: Conor McCarron, Gregg Forrest, Peter Mullan, Joe Szula, Marianna Palka, Steven Robertson.
“Social realism really gets on my tits sometimes. You have to just go with your imagination, where your instinct takes you.” – Peter Mullan.
Non-Educated Deliquents. Neds. A word heard on a daily basis where I live. Once a term applied to young gang members battling rivals over territory, now more commonly associated with underage trouble makers in the latest sportswear. It’s a strange term though, if it does indeed stand for those of supposed lower IQ, because some of the most intelligent people I have known have also been those most capable of violence in their youth. Those most likely to get into fights and be able to knock someone out with one punch. NEDS is where Peter Mullan squares up to the ‘uneducated’ stereotype, tackling it head on.
Young John McGill’s life is far from perfect, but his ability and intellect show an escape route from his working class background and bullying father that seems beyond the reach of his peers. Singled out as a student of high intelligence from the word go, life should be hell for John McGill, yet he remains untouched due to the reputation of his gang member older brother. Initially shown to be very different from his good little schoolboy sibling, Benny McGill may remain emotionally distant, but his name – along with maybe a few glass bottles and a rope – can protect John from would-be tormentors.
Rejected by a friend’s mother on grounds of class, John is torn between the lonely path of academic success and a sense of belonging, choosing to neglect his studies in favour of aligning himself with the junior branch of his brother’s gang. If everyone expects him to turn out like his brother, he’s not going to let them down. It’s a quick downward spiral for one seen to have such a promising future. He soon realises just how much of a capacity for violence lies within him, and begins to lose all sense of control. NEDS quickly becomes rather brutal and hard-hitting, but never once is anything too much. With the exception of a glue-fuelled fantasy scene, it all seems far too believable. We’ve all seen these things happen, and known these people – and if we haven’t, we’ve read about them.
The standard of acting on display from the young talent involved is inspirational. It has an air of authenticity that makes it seem all the more real. The kids are so far removed from the adult presences in NEDS, who at times almost seem to take on exaggerated personas, showing that they do indeed inhabit different worlds while living side by side. The almost comedic performances turned in by those in the roles of teaching staff sit in stark contrast with the streetwise teenagers. Kind of as if half the cast of Gregory’s Girl had accidentally stumbled onto the set of This Is England.
Peter Mullan describes NEDS as “easily 90 per cent fiction, albeit very much influenced by things I saw, heard about and experienced.” It’s not a work of social commentary on knife crime and gang culture, it is the story of one boy’s struggle to find his way during the transitional period of adolescence. That period of adjustment, moving from the safety of primary school to the altogether very different environment of secondary. While I can’t speak for everyone, in my own experience there are some schools that become less like an institute of education and more like a gladiatorial arena as you move from class to class, where those who stand out – for whatever reason – are thrown to a baying crowd more than ready to rip them to shreds for the fun of it. Putting up a fight and leaving the lion’s den in one piece is half the battle.
It might be hard to see how you could bring forth something beautiful from a situation like this, but Mullan delivers a striking film by mixing stark reality with fantasy, and opting for a powerful metaphorical ending in place of a standard resolution. For me, at least, this approach works. In fact, it worked so well I was rather stunned for some time after. It’s an unflinching and unsentimental coming of age tale. If you’re in need of a happy ending, I’d sit this one out.
NEDS explores the inner turmoil of puberty, how easy it is to fall in with the ‘wrong crowd’ – the group identity, the herd mentality, fitting in. It’s a strong pull when teenage years are all about having the right look, the right haircut, drinking in underpasses and copping off with someone round the back of the sports centre. The gang mentality comes as standard. It’s not really a world you are pushed into by circumstance, more part of an ongoing culture. This is just my viewpoint, perhaps formed by a West of Scotland upbringing. When the first questions ever asked on meeting anyone would be what school do you go to and what part of town do you come from, how you answered could make or break what happened next. NEDS may be set in the seventies, but there are some things that never change.
So you can take the comments about “Mullan boosting his own ego on how far he has come” and “Mosspark wasn‘t as bad as he makes out” and “the period detail is a bit sketchy” and “no one I knew looked like that in seventies Glasgow” and “real delinquents are never that intelligent” and all the debate over when the term Ned came into actual use…and just throw them on a bonfire, because quite frankly, that’s missing the point. It’s not meant to be conveying the truth of an entire region, or an entire society. NEDS conveys the ‘truth’ of one individual, who – while having a basis in real life – can be portrayed in a very unreal way to devastating effect.
Within a violent premise there are moments of tenderness, there are moments of humour, and there is a film that shows while he may be a damn fine actor – Peter Mullan is also a damn fine writer and director.
