More poverty porn? The lead actress--"discovered" in a mall yelling at her boyfriend--was sublime but I didn't like feeling the constant sense of blatent voyeurism I had the entire time I was watching the film. All art is voyeurism but all voyeurism is not art. It was unpleasantly distracting. The filmmaking was certainly very adequate but I couldn't help wondering why I was watching life on a housing estate. What exactly was I supposed to take away from this film other than the usual mothers are to blame for everything under the sun and thank god I don't live on a housing estate. My big question is who exactly is the audience for this film? Certainly not the housing estate dwellers. I fear it is people like me--white, liberal, upper middle class intellectuals who by watching this film and feeling empathy for how badly people live somehow feel exonerated from participation in a society that perpetuates such gross unfairness. Many beautiful images here but many condescending ones too (shots of toys, animals, fluffy cliches). Michael Fassbender was fantastic to watch but he was probably miscast. His inexplicable Canadian accent confused me as well.
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