October, 2008

All around the world, millions of people are members of street gangs. Clubbing together in groups they fight, stab, shoot, rob, rape and murder anyone outside of the fold. In his BAFTA award winning documentary series Ross Kemp on Gangs which has just been released on DVD, the hard-man of EastEnders travels round the world in an attempt to infiltrate these criminal gangs and discover who they are, what makes them tick and what the law is doing to curb their criminal activity. In his quest he talks to gang members, locals who have been affected by gang violence, and the authorities who are attempting to combat the problem.

Starting off in El Salvador, where earthquakes, volcanoes and gun war terrify the population, Ross meets members of the MS13, considered by the US to be “the most dangerous gang in the world”, including those who cannot walk to the end of their street without running the risk of being shot down and killed. Moving on to Pollsmoor High Security Prison in Cape Town, South Africa, he learns the fearsome power of the inmates who subject new arrivals to violent attacks and gang rape as part of their brutal initiations. During the course of his harrowing journey, the actor cum journalist joins an elite police riot squad in Poland as they escort a notoriously violent Neo-Nazi football hooligan, meets families in St Louis facing daily intimidation from gang members as well as a man trying to leave his gangster lifestyle behind him, and is set on fire as part of the initiation rites for a Neo-Nazi group from Moscow.

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Cor blimey guv’nor, apples and pears, Jacob’s Crackers, and other assorted foodstuffs, it’s Guy Ritchie inneet? Rocking in with his new picture, RocknRolla right, which is like a revisting of his familiar, bankable roots after a two exercises in epic failure.

No new territory is covered here, it’s very much Lock Stock by numbers, so if you’re expecting Shakespeare, then you’d be better off looking elsewhere. However, if you’re after a slick, cheeky mockney comedy thriller full of guns, geezers and Gerard Butler, then you could do worse. Calling RocknRolla a return to form would be pushing it, but it’s safe to say that it’s a country mile better than the overly ambitious and confusing Revolver, (not to mention that total guff-bubble Swept Away) and plenty of fun.

The film is typical Ritchie fare – intertwining strands, stolen MacGuffins, (in this case a ‘lucky painting’) vast sums of money, and an assorted cast of bad boys and girls out for revenge or slice of the pie, or a bit of both.

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