4. Scum (1979)
New inmate Carlin arrives at a borstal for beating up a warden in a previous borstal. He wants to keep a low profile about this but the prison's 'Daddy' Banks finds out about this and starts bothering Carlin. Eventually Carlin snaps at Banks' bullying of the timid and vulnerable Davis. In the film's most iconic scene, he puts some snooker balls into a sock and beats up Banks and his crony. Carlin is now the prison 'Daddy'. Life under his regime is much better in the prison - there is less bullying and racial crimes. The governor of the institution is impressed with Carlin and they begin a semi-cooperation. However, a major spanner to prison cohesion is thrown into the works when Davis is raped in the greenhouse by a couple of inmates whilst a warden just stands there smoking a cigarette and smirking. Obviously this act has a massive emotional effect on Davis and that night, he cuts his wrists. He presses the emergency button but the screws ignore it, only to find him dead in a blood soaked cell in the morning. Of course, there was a serious dereliction of duty regarding the treatment of Davis by the screws. Carlin instigates a prison riot at lunchtime for the inmates to express their disgust. The film ends with a moment's silence for Davis. The script for Scum was rejected for being too violent for the BBC in the 1970s. It was eventually aired on Channel 4 in 1983, after the reform of the penal system. It is indeed a shocking film with lots of violence, rape and indifference of the wardens. Ray Winstone gave a very auspicious performance as Carlin - showcasing his amazing acting talent and giving us a taste of the brilliance he would lend to various films over the years. The film has a very naturalistic, almost documentary like feel to it, this makes what happens in the movie all the more alarming because it isn't just a piece of fiction, this is what borstal life was really like - stupid, sadistic screws, bullied inmates, sexual abuse, fighting over who runs the prison - it is obvious from the film that Scum is just presenting the facts. There is no rehabilitation in the movie - just punishment, boredom and violence to pass the days. Forty years later the film loses none of its ability to shock and distress.