A Sense Of Freedom

I believe this film was made about 1980. The direction and acting is excellent. It is based on the autobiography entitled "A Sense of Freedom" of Jimmy Boyle, a gangster who held power in Glasgow in the 1960s and who was convicted of murder. The opening scenes cleverly give an idea of his ruthlessness and of the fear in which he was held by many ordinary people. There are brilliant little cameos, presumably fictional, such as that of a man who is terrified of Boyle the debt-collector. Everyday life in Glasgow seems realistically portrayed though the film-makers had a dilemma as to how far they should tone down the Glasgow way of speech.Boyle is given a life sentence and the judge says he is to serve at least 15 years. Boyle has held power by being tough with all opponents and he continues this in prison. The prison staff appear in a bad light at times. When a prison governor is obstructive towards Boyle, Boyle punches him and the consequence is a group of prison officers beat Boyle up. The bulk of the film shows such episodes of violence between Boyle and the prison staff. The film has a disjointed style that at first disconcerted me until I came to feel it suited a work that is a portrayal of a man's memories of events.I was aware of ambivalent feelings as we are invited to feel respect for Boyle's refusal to break under authority. The film occasionally gives a glimpse of the officers' point of view. One man is said to have lost an eye. These violent prison episodes are based on Boyle's own autobiography and there is the question of how much of it is factually true. Even someone who wants to be truthful will find it goes against human nature to be completely so.The late 1960s were a progressive time politically and a "special unit" to rehabilitate hard-to-handle prisoners was set up in Barlinnie Prison in Glasgow. I was very disappointed that the film stopped with Boyle's arrival there. We see him going to his room to unpack and, when he is unable to unknot the parcel containing his things, an officer hands him a penknife to cut the string. In the film Boyle is clearly surprised. I wonder if that really happened. I can see it would be a demonstration of faith in a violent criminal and therefore potentially therapeutic to hand him a knife but it would be a tremendous risk.I would have liked to see more of the unit and how art helped rehabilitate Boyle. He married his therapist and on his release opened a centre to help people with mental health issues. I watched "A Sense of Freedom" on Amazon Prime but it is available on DVD and I think someone said there's a companion DVD that features the woman he married. I would like to know more about her. Jimmy Boyle and his wife became famous but I believe the Special Unit was closed down amid protests from some members of the public when the political climate became less liberal in the 1980s.

David Hayman's performance as Jimmy Boyle is seared into the minds of those who first saw this on television 30 odd years ago. The DVD presents the original uncut version with the original Glaswegian dialogue and some violence that was trimmed for the revised version. No wonder it got the backs up of the establishment just as ' Scum' and the BBC drama 'Law and order' did at that time. My one complaint is that the DVD should have been given subtitles as the dialogue is sometimes difficult to understand due to the standard audio quality as well as the strong accents. But all DVD's should be subtitled - particularly if you are hard of hearing. So that's why I'm awarding it a four star review.

Superb drama but when oh WHEN will one of these boutique labels (BFI i'm looking at you) give it a decent remaster with some juicy special features on blu ray , the quality of this 2×dvd edition is SHOCKING beyond belief 😢😞

Bought as a gift very happy with purchase and very happy with seller

Great

I'm very happy they re-released this film, especially that it features the original version that was shown on STV (Scottish Television) many years ago. The previous version which was released on DVD was a dubbed version and cut out most of the Glaswegian slang that is spoken on the streets of Glasgow, which didn't do it justice in the slightest. Buying this release gives you the option of both versions. If you have read the book and enjoyed it or have an interest in British gangsters then this is definitely the film for you.

I had paid for the rental of this movie at the recommendation of a friend and was really looking forward to watching it. Unfortunately was unable to due to a software issue on my TV. Once it had been rectified, (by my teenage daughter) the 48hr deadline had passed and missed. It!However, I will update my review when I have paid for it (again)!

Great to see this classic true story on dvd - slightly grainy transfer but powerful script and memorable main performance.