Offensive (2016)
Gareth Jones
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Starring Russell Floyd, Lisa Eichhorn, Fred Adenis, Timothy Morand, Angela Dixon
Directed by Jon Ford
Screened at FrightFest 2016
When retirees Bernard and Helen Martin (Floyd and Eichhorn, respectively) learn that they’ve been named the inheritors of a sum of money alongside a beautiful homestead in rural France, previously owned by Bernard’s father’s closest wartime friend, the couple are elated at this chance of a new life. There is, however, one condition attached: they must live there for one full year before the deeds are completely signed over… or forfeit the entire inheritance.
All seems well except for a few broken windows when the couple move in, and they set about fixing the place up and tending to the ailing gardens. But in the background lurks a gang of aggressive, disaffected local youths carrying a reputation packed with such violence and criminality that the more vulnerable residents of the area live in constant fear of them.
When the gang turn their attentions – and anti-American rhetoric – toward Bernard and Helen, it becomes increasingly clear that the local police have no intention of dealing with the matter (these are “just kids”, after all)… and petty vandalism and verbal abuse soon escalates into physical attacks and inhuman debauchery when the elderly couple refuse to be victimised.
Mirroring a slice of his father’s history – revealed in one of the wartime journals found in this new home – Bernard’s desperate response demonstrates that the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree as he fights back against the gang with levels of rage and brutality that even they could never fathom. But with the police becoming suspicious, how much longer can Bernard get away with his deadly deeds?
Despite a slow start and some rather bland visuals – in the early scenes, Ford appears to be going for quite a rough ‘n’ ready, naturalistic look at his setup, but it often winds up looking like a home-grown TV production – Offensive does a very good job of absorbing the viewer into the narrative. Bernard and Helen are a likeable, everyday retired couple who wish for nothing but to be left in peace and to engage with a friendly face once in a while. It isn’t a big ask, and Ford very capably introduces and winds up the threat of the local teens – slowly tightening the screws and increasing the pressure before Bernard inevitably explodes.
Leads Floyd and Eichhorn carry the film well. Floyd in particular has the difficult job of keeping the audience on-side with someone who – for all intents and purposes – has been pushed beyond the brink of reason, and in this he succeeds. There is no joy in what he does. Release, perhaps, but he doesn’t revel in the act and both he and Helen’s moral struggle with the murder and disposal of teenagers is evident. After the first bodies have dropped, Bernard continues to demonstrate his reluctance, yelling “You wouldn’t leave us alone!” as he violently reacts to further transgressions. Crucially, Bernard rarely ignites the spark of conflict – he merely reacts with maximum force.
Backed up by the scale of the threat – this isn’t just Bernard’s fight, as he’s also standing up for an entire community that has been victimised, brutalised, and even murdered, by these cretins for far too long – this shovel-wielding retiree is very much Offensive’s avenging angel.
As antithesis to this, Ford’s gang of youngsters are a one-note bunch – decked out in tracksuits, hoodies and baseball caps, they seem to live life vicariously through their phone screens. Detached and unfeeling, they are feral in the extreme – protected by the law, laughing and hooting like a pack of animals as they drop bricks from an overpass, callously attack the elderly or desecrate war memorials. They’re also cowards, refusing to create issue with anyone they perceive as stronger than them – a flawed perception which ultimately proves their downfall.
Given this, it should be obvious that Ford isn’t aiming for social realist drama. We see nothing of these youngsters’ (ranging in age from 14 to around 20) home lives, nor any serious investigation into why they are the way they are. Heck, there isn’t even a mention of their parents once Bernard begins disposing of them and secreting the bodies away in a grove.
These caricatures mean Offensive is primarily a cathartic rage piece, and in this arena it stands out as a roaring success. The violence visited upon these young monsters is stark and extreme – powered by superb effects and editing that make every incident a bone-crunching toe-curler. So be warned… if the notion of the very graphic dismemberment and head-crushing, or relentless steel bar pummelling, of a teenager is likely to cause you distress, stay far, far away. Having lived through years of a very similar situation to that represented here, however, every painstakingly horrendous dispatch of these cretins delivered cause for vocal celebration – a therapeutic representation of anger-fuelled fantasies and a degree of exorcism of demons that never truly left (and likely never will) even if those days did.
There are a few goofy concepts throughout the film, such as Bernard’s back issues somehow magically resolving themselves as his campaign of death continues – the metaphor for taking his life back being just a little too ‘out there’, and it all wraps up a bit too neatly – but Offensive proves a thoroughly rewarding, if simplistic, watch that manages to push a few primal buttons while it’s at it.
The true decider will be your own tolerance for graphic violence visited upon those of a certain age group. Leave the bleeding heart at home, because there’s truly no place for it here.
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Film
Categorized:Reviews
