The War Zone *** (1998, Freddie Cunliffe, Ray Winstone, Lara Belmont, Tilda Swinton, Colin Farrell, Kate Ashfield, Aisling O’Sullivan) – Classic Movie Review 4382

An alienated teenage boy (Freddie Cunliffe) begins to suspect his father (Ray Winstone) is abusing his older sister (Lara Belmont) in director Tim Roth’s well-meaning, painstaking though alienating 1998 film of a controversial novel by Alexander Stewart.

As you would expect from a film by an actor, the acting convinces – with Belmont and Tilda Swinton (as mum) both superb. And Roth’s direction is imaginatively crafted. But this is astonishingly bleak, agonising stuff that will make most of us look away.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4382

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