MovieChat Forums > Borstal Boy (2000) Discussion > nothing remotely close to the book

nothing remotely close to the book

posted 18 years ago by steid472
6 replies | jump to latest

I have not seen this movie. I want to. Just from reading the reviews and plot outlines and looking at the character names, I want to kick myself in the dick.

I hold the book very near and dear to my heart. It seems like this film doesn't stay true to the book at all, aside from the roots: Behan was arrested at sixteen for attempted to blow up a shipyard in Liverpool and sentenced to three years in Borstal Institutions.

But, like, while he was in Borstal he didn't form any romantic relationships. There were no women, except for the matron of his dorm at the last Borstal he was at, who as he says in the book was just a Borstal boy herself. Secondly, he had utter contempt for the English. He was an IRA man until he died. He didn't go through a self-examination where he realized that the English aren't bad blokes. Sure, he made friends -- but at the end of the day, he was still involved in the IRA which meant he still hated the English. Finally, one review says that the Borstal turned him into a self-assured great writer. He said he was a drinker with writing problems, AND he drank himself to death (at 41). I don't call that self-assured, plus read his biographies -- I don't think he fancied his writing all that much.

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Rhymer 18 years ago

I too have read the book, six times to be exact. Brendan Behan did not have a "great contempt for the English", just for the "British Empire", which was "run by Scots and Irish", in his own words. He stated that very succinctly in the book. He also said that he liked the English because "the English can love someone without them being seven feet tall or a hundred years dead." Those are EXACT quotes from the book. As far as relationships, I think it's obvious that he had a strong relationship with Charlie Millwall. That sticks out all the way through. His reaction on receiving news of Charlie's death is extremely telling. I can't imagine how you missed it. ;)

[–] emmet-mc-grane 16 years ago

i have not seen the film and now after reading the reviews i have no intention. from the book i dont remember any scenes of him being gay. it seems like its completly changed and is noting like the book

[–] SimonPrince 16 years ago

Books Better

[–] mjfoote 14 years ago

I'll have to read it again

[–] podwilliams 14 years ago

Well said, Rhymer. It's disingenuous of Sheridan to claim that Behan 'hated' the English. Sheridan needs that myth to justify the crappy script for his film. The I.R.A. wouldn't've been able to hold off the most highly trained counter-insurgency force in the world for so long if 'hatred' had been their raison d'être. In the meantime, people may be able to point to examples of casual contempt for 'the English' and 'the Brits', but that didn't translate into a political creed. It was rather an informal expression of resentment at being oppressed by the British state. Sheridan ignores all this and instead makes a dog's dinner of a movie out of clichés about 'love' and 'hate'.

Bloody awful film; fantastic book.

The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep.