308. Beats; movie review

BEATS
Cert 18
101 mins
BBFC advice: Contains very strong language

In the early 90s, I was a reporter in Birmingham when our newsdesk got wind of a late-night rave being set up in the city centre.
The organisers trusted us to cover their 'secret' event, largely because they feared they would be ambushed by the police and treated badly.
I cannot remember how our photographer and I discovered the rendezvous points but, at about 2am, we were on our way with dozens of excited young people.
And, sure enough, they were met by the merciless West Midlands Police riot squad who set about those defenceless boys and girls with batons.
It was the worst violence I witnessed in more than 30 years as a journalist and I went back to the office and wrote up my report, seething because of what I had seen.
But the report was spiked. The police claimed their actions were the benefit of the revellers who could have been injured or worse in the venue which breached a litany of health and safety regulations.
So, that was the excuse for knocking seven bells of out them.
Why did the editor of my newspaper believe what they had told him rather than what the photographer and I had witnessed with our own eyes?
I will never know - but memories of that night were brought to the fore by Brian Welsh's compelling Beats.
Set in Scotland in 1994, and shot mainly in monochrome, it follows two teenage best friends, Johnno (Cristian Ortega) and Spanner (Lorn Macdonald), heading out for one final night together at an illegal rave before life takes them in different directions. 
Johnno’s family, encouraged by his mum's boyfriend (Brian Ferguson), are due to move to a newly built house in the distant suburbs. 
Spanner’s prospects, meanwhile, look next to zero in the context of local poverty and his relationship with his abusive criminal brother, Fido (Neil Leiper).
There are Trainspotting parallels here. The Scottish sink estates, the poverty, the drugs, the violence and the Scottish humour in the face of all of the above.
Macdonald gives a compelling performance as a young man who doesn't seem to be wired the same as the rest of us.
However many times he is knocked down, he bounces back up. His optimism in the face of violence and abuse if amazing if misguided.
Beats is shocking - feckless families, drugs and violence are to the fore but Welsh has also made it uplifting and, ultimately, hopeful.
And that is why it works so well. Also, fans of rave music will be well into the soundtrack.
I'm not but it still grabbed (except one unnecessarily long scene).



Reasons to watch: Edgy and convincing hark back to the 90s
Reasons to avoid: Glories in drug-taking

Laughs: Two
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 8/10

Did you know? The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act empowered police to stop a rave in the open air when a hundred or more people are attending or where two or more are making preparations for a rave.

The final word. Lorn Macdonald: "The main thing I would like viewers to take away would be the positive vulnerability of young men. Showing affection and showing love for each other and that not seeming like it’s a negative trait of men but actually a strength.”

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