106. Ray & Liz; movie review

RAY & LIZ
Cert 15
108 mins
BBFC advice: Contains very strong language

When I was a reporter in Birmingham, I visited houses and flats just like those portrayed in Ray & Liz.
Indeed, my stint pounding the streets was at the same time that Richard Billingham was being brought up by feckless parents in squalor.
However, not everyone who was poor or illiterate lived like them.
I spent many childhood days at my grandparents' who lived in an ironically named suburb of Coventry called Paradise.
Nobody was well off, the men spent what little money they earned in the pub and yet I recall the deep love my grandmother had for us and the great sense of community (my great aunts lived next door and in the next street and my other grandparents were half a mile away).
So, while Ray & Liz is brilliantly observed, I don't agree with those who have jumped on a bandwagon which proclaims poverty is responsible for appalling people and parents. They exist in all social strata.
Indeed, I know many who have fought their way out of it or still have high principles despite it.
I digress.
As said, the detail of Ray & Liz, down to to the carpet, wallpaper and Catherine Wheels on Bonfire Night evoked thoughts of childhood and our teenage years in Mrs W and me.
And there were elements of Ray & Liz's struggles which also chimed.
The film splits in two - with an older, alcoholic Ray (Patrick Romer) only leaving the bedroom of his council flat to go to the toilet.
He does nothing but drink, stare out of the window and listen to Radio 4 but proclaims that he is "happy as a pig in sh*t".
Justin Salinger plays the younger Ray who is the henpecked husband of wife Liz (Ella Smith) and father of Richard (Sam Plant) and Jason (Joshua Millard-Lloyd ).
The parents couldn't care less for their children, seeing them as little more than avenues to greater benefit payments.
The conditions in which they live are appalling and the youngsters are in genuine danger from their surroundings or themselves.
How they ended up being able to divide right from wrong is testament to their inner selves rather than their parents.
We can only believe that Billingham accurately reflects his awful upbringing accurately. If it is as precise as his attention to the background detail, it will have been spot on.

Reasons to watch: A sometimes painful but evocative auto-biographical movie
Reasons to avoid: The cruelty is hard to take

Laughs: Two
Jumps: None
Vomit: Yes
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 8.5/10

Did you know?  An average of 188 children a day in England are being put on protection plans because they are at risk of abuse or neglect. Councils started 68,770 child protection plans during 2017-18, a rise of 2,360 in a year.

The final word. Richard Billingham: "“My parents died 12 years ago in close succession, within six months of each other. I think I’ve taken a long time to start the writing process because maybe I needed to be this age to see my childhood and the way my family lived in context.” Mancunian Matters

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