After the end of the conflict in Northern Ireland, paramilitary groups turned into gangs that enforced their own street justice. Their decisions are incontestable and irrevocable. But when a local dog receives a death sentence, it may turn out that this time the thugs are trying to bite off more than they can chew. Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs is an innocent child’s play as compared with this perverse gangster cinema with a remarkable awareness of the convention, sense of humour and distance.
Acting
Michael Smiley's dead-eyed menace in 13 minutes of pure dread
Writing
Dialogue that turns bureaucratic cruelty into black comedy gold
Direction
Two directors, one suffocating room, zero escape
Director
Adam Patterson
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made by BBC journalists Patterson and Lawn, both raised in Northern Ireland — the paramilitary 'punishment beatings' they reference were real community control tactics through the 2000s.
The dog was nearly cut for budget; the directors fought because without the animal, the men's performative cruelty has no innocent target — and no soul.
GB
