CASS

UK, 2008, 108 minutes, Colour.
Nonso Anozie, Natalie Press, Linda Bassett, Peter Wight, Tamar Hassan, Leo Gregory, Gavin Brocker.
Directed by Jon S. Baird.

Down-to-earth, gritty, f and c-layered, British gangsterland and the world of British hooliganism of the 1970s and 1980s. Enough to be quite off-putting for many audiences.

But, Cass has a lot going for it.

While it does immerse its audience in an ugly world with brutish behaviour, it is also a story of British racism from the 1950s to the present and the social changes affecting young thugs (and older), especially Margaret Thatcher’s post-Falklands war on football fan violence. This has been portrayed in such films as Greenstreet and The Football Factory but many commentators thought that these films were in danger of glorifying what they were deploring. There certainly are some graphic brawling sequences, in the streets and in a Newcastle club, but there is also much more to think about.

Cass is based on a true story. As the film opens, the adult Cass Pennant in the 1990s is gunned down outside a South London club. His voiceover tells us that this is his actual story and then takes us back to his experiences in Wolverhampton when he was 14 and his introduction to bashings by the ‘Firms’ (the yob supporters gangs). He takes us further back to when he was adopted through Barnardo’s by a middle-aged British couple and his experiences of being different, especially when he was at school, aged ten in the late 1960s. These sequences are credible and introduce us to Cass’s background (real name Carol Pennant but wanting to be called Cass after Cassius Clay). The other reason that these scenes work so well, as do some later scenes, is the wonderful performance by Linda Bassett as Cass’s adoptive mother, a strong woman, and by Peter Wight as his very laid-back but no less loving adoptive father.

However, Cass grows up to become the Intercity Firm leader for West Ham supporters, is interviewed for television and states that it was only in the camaraderie of the firms that he found any acceptance. Soon he is organising pre-emptive strikes against Newcastle which lands him in gaol. With time to think, he handwrites his story but is forbidden by regulations to take it when he is released.

After release he has the option of going back to how it was or changing. His encounter with a young woman, Elaine (Nathalie Press) pushes him in a more respectable direction. His friends still entangle him in the violence but times are changing. CCTV videos troublemakers and energy has gone for many young people into clubs and the world of drugs where Cass now works as a manager.

Cass’s story is a success story that takes us beyond the yobbism. Married for some time and with children, he is also a writer and publisher, keen on young people learning from his life and dangerous mistakes.

Well-acted by the imposing Nonso Anozie (who has already portrayed both Lear and Othello on stage) and an excellent cast of British character actors, this is an inspiring story without the ‘preaching’ that one sometimes finds in films exhorting young people to change for the better.

1.The film based on a true story, the autobiography of the central character? His acting as adviser to the film?

2.The film has a history of racism in the UK for fifty years, the obvious racism widespread in the 50s, the changes, the reinforcement of racism?

3.The film as a history of violence in the UK, football violence, gangs and thuggery? The 1970s to the 1990s?

4.The change in football violence with the introduction of CCTV, younger people going to clubs, the taking of drugs as a substitute for a high?

5.The settings: Wolverhampton, Leeds, East London and Plaistow? London through the decades, the pubs and the streets, the homes?

6.The musical score, the wide range of songs illustrating the popular songs and atmosphere of the decades?

7.The opening, the shooting, Cass and his voice-over, talking about himself? The film returning to this sequence? Cass’s survival?

8.Going back to 1972, Cass as fourteen, with his two friends, seeing the fights in the streets, telling the gang, joining in, the bashing, the exhilaration, the power? His being accepted? At the pub, experiencing racism and the head of the gang standing up for him? The vivid presentation of the brawling?

9.Going back to 1958, Cass as a young baby, his mother adopting him from Barnardos, in the pram, the woman with the racist comment about his growing up? The transition to 1968, going to school, his uniform, his relationship to Doll and Cecil? His friends, on the bridge, the fight? The blood, his mother tending him, his being upset about his name, Carol? His wanting to be Cass, Cassius Clay, a fighter? Cecil taking him to the game, to the pub, defending him against racism? His happiness?

10.The racism and the reverse racism in prison? The blacks accusing Cass of being really white? The murder attempt on him and the vicious racist comments?

11.Cass, grown up to be a big man, boss of the Firm? His friends as adults? Their life, sexual relationships, drinking? The fixtures and planning the fights? The international city firm? Cass and his leadership? The bashings, looking at the newspaper headings and resenting their being downplayed? The television interview and Cass talking about the violence, his being accepted, feeling himself as a man? Doll and Cecil watching the interview? Doll’s reaction? The plan to attack Newcastle? The drive up? Their friendship with Ray, the outing with him before prison? His joke and his promise to Cass?

12.Newcastle, the members at the club, the compere and his jokes? The attack, the brawl, the arrest, Cass going to jail, the Westham loyalty and the sullen warder giving him the clothes?

13.Cass’s experience of jail, the clash with the Jamaican prisoner in the cell, their fight? The second prisoner, their talks? Urging Cass to find his origins? Later Doll giving him the letters from his actual parents and his continued refusal to read them? His writing his autobiography? Going to see Ray, favours from Ray? Leaving and the warden applying strict rules and putting his book in the garbage?

14.His release, going to the pub, Elaine and Linda present, his speech? The racist clashes? His dating Elaine, the comments from his pals, being domesticated by Elaine? His going out, getting knifed, Elaine tidying the house and overhearing the story? Her outburst, her pregnancy?

15.The characters of Doll and Cecil, love for Cass over the decades, good people? The Christmas event, their pride in Cass, the crackers from Marks and Spencer, the children, his job as a manager? Doll’s death, Cecil telling Cass, the funeral, the minister inviting speakers and telling Cass not to speak? Cass’s speech, his thanks to his mother? Supporting his dad at the end, his dad’s final words of encouragement?

16.The marriage, the son, the boy growing up, Cass and his job, Ray and his support? Prospering?

17.The traces of the gang warfare, the pursuit of Cass’s friend, his being slashed? Wanting revenge? The assassination attempt? Elaine and her sadness, her friends, his survival? At home, seeing images of the assassin in the mirror? The card sent with the wreath at his mother’s death?

18.His anger at home, the outburst towards his son, Elaine upset and going? Her returning to the trashed house?

19.Ray and his offer of revenge? The motivations? The funeral cortege, going to the pub, the confrontation with the assassin? Cass’s decision not to kill him?

20.The decision and its aftermath? His prosperity, the permanence of his marriage, his books and publishing? His achievement? The film as a morale booster?