Made in Britain is a made for TV movie, directed by Alan Clarke, who also directed Scum. It stars Tim Roth in his first role as skinhead Trevor. It was released in 1982 in the heart of the whole skinhead revival thing. Or maybe the end.
Unlike other Made for TV movies, Made in Britain does not contain your normal morality arc. The movie opens with Trevor and his social worker being marched down various Brutalist hallways in some creepy court/administrative building in England. At the end of this long march, he is sentenced to a kind of home or boarding school to be observed until a final court date. You would imagine that in the following scenes, after some insincere attempts, and then missteps, he would come around and give up the criminal life. Nope. In the final scene, after getting hit on the knee by a real cop, instead of a friendly social worker, he just sits there in his cell smiling a psychotic smile after indicating he does not mind going to prison.
I liked Trevor’s support staff. Unlike my imagined, soulless civil servant, the staff charged with Trevor’s care, who were all men, were sincerely trying to to help him. One of them even took him to a demolition derby and allowed him to drive one of the cars. I felt more sympathy for them than for Trevor. Maybe that was the idea. I don’t even know if one is supposed to feel sympathy for Trevor.
If you want a slice of life, which this movie is touted as, of 1980s England juvenile justice system, you’ll get it here. Also if you like The Exploited, that is also here.
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