Scum (DVD)

A freakish cross-breed between Tony Richardson's somber The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and Kinji Fukasaku's ferocious Battle Royale, Scum caused quite the uproar in conservative Britain upon its release in 1979. Created for BBC television, Scum was promptly shelved by the network, which found it too despondent, bleak, and anti-establishment to release. Undaunted, the filmmakers reshot the project as a feature film two years later, making it even more brutal and nihilistic, a savage attack on the Borstal system of young youth offenders which became an instant underground classic.

Cult fans and collectors will be thrilled to learn that this DVD release of Scum contains not only the theatrical release, but the rarely-seen BBC version, with many of the same actors playing the same roles in both versions.

When a new boy, Carlin (Ray Winstone, Sexy Beast), gets transferred to a new Borstal, his arrival is greeted with apprehension by staff and inmates alike. In his last Borstal, Carlin had assaulted an officer, which immediately places him in unfavorable standing with the staff, who take special pleasure in beating and humiliating him to show him who is in charge. Likewise, the Borstal's "Daddy," a fierce boy named Pongo, makes sure Carlin knows his place from the start with a few solid beatings.

Carlin makes friends with an inmate named Archer, who seems totally out of place. A quiet, introspective youth, he fights the system in his own small little ways, intimidating the screws (authorities) with his icy demeanor and intimidating intellect and taunting the authorities with bizarre personal habits, requests for vegetarian food, Dostoevsky novels, and his interest in Mecca. Since he never resorts to anger or violence, the screws have no idea how to deal with him.

Carlin, on the other hand, takes in the animosity with a quiet fury, refusing to be drawn into making a move against either the Daddy or the screws (officers) until the time is right. Carlin used to be a Daddy in his last Borstal and plans to be one again. Mercilessly, he removes Pongo from power and begins to run the institution with an iron fist, turning the entire institution into an unlit powder keg…