Alan Clarke's deservedly-renowned and masterful eye for biting social commentary, as evidenced from "Scum" (1979) to "Made In Britain" (1982), is cemented in his parting swan song "The Firm" (1989). What superficially seems to be a film straightforwardly indicting the 'English disease' of football hooliganism as well its sensationalised media coverage in fact cleverly uses said hooligan culture as a microcosm of far more grandiose and complex phenomena, from institutions to nation-states.
The finale, in which the overzealous pack leader of the Inter City Crew, Bexy, is shot and then martyred is both poignant and cerebral. Bexy (played without flaw by Gary Oldman in a breakthrough role) and his increasing taste for ultraviolence, and how his jingoistic attitude in this regard brings him into conflict with more levelheaded ICC members, is to the audience both disturbing and abhorrent. Upon being shot by the rival firm's leader after a bloody skirmish, all doubt and hesitance of those aforementioned levelheaded members is washed away and Bexy is both canonised and lionised by his former underlings and peers. Such a theme is applicable far beyond football, to the nature of contemporary nationalism and statehood, how martyrs are made of gung-ho soldiers and subsequently violence is sanctioned in their name.
The prank played by Bexy upon a new recruit, wherein they concoct a false narrative regarding an initiation ritual in order to coax him into ritual scarification, is equally pertinent beyond the world of hooliganism. The performative nature of such rituals, whether they be rites of passage in subcultures or mandatory requirements for nations, is thus highlighted, in ironic contrast to the prior scene showing media commentators discussing with haughty anthropological dispassion the supposed majesty and nobility of hooligan subcultures.
Clarke's target is not those with an interest in small spheres designed for recreational sport, but with an interest in the vast sphere we all live upon.
The finale, in which the overzealous pack leader of the Inter City Crew, Bexy, is shot and then martyred is both poignant and cerebral. Bexy (played without flaw by Gary Oldman in a breakthrough role) and his increasing taste for ultraviolence, and how his jingoistic attitude in this regard brings him into conflict with more levelheaded ICC members, is to the audience both disturbing and abhorrent. Upon being shot by the rival firm's leader after a bloody skirmish, all doubt and hesitance of those aforementioned levelheaded members is washed away and Bexy is both canonised and lionised by his former underlings and peers. Such a theme is applicable far beyond football, to the nature of contemporary nationalism and statehood, how martyrs are made of gung-ho soldiers and subsequently violence is sanctioned in their name.
The prank played by Bexy upon a new recruit, wherein they concoct a false narrative regarding an initiation ritual in order to coax him into ritual scarification, is equally pertinent beyond the world of hooliganism. The performative nature of such rituals, whether they be rites of passage in subcultures or mandatory requirements for nations, is thus highlighted, in ironic contrast to the prior scene showing media commentators discussing with haughty anthropological dispassion the supposed majesty and nobility of hooligan subcultures.
Clarke's target is not those with an interest in small spheres designed for recreational sport, but with an interest in the vast sphere we all live upon.