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THE FIRM
Alan Clarke
UK, 1989, 68’
A look into the infamous confrontations of British football vandalism.
The young Gary Oldman shines as Clive ‘Bexy’ Bissell, an average homebody dad who emerges in the weekends as leader of the Inner City Crew, a gang of infamous football hooligans in East London. The aim is to unite all the British firms for the inevitable confrontations with foreign clans in the upcoming European championships of 1988, but he stumbles into the brutal, bloody opposition of a rival criminal gang of supporters.
The Firm is an unforgettable masterpiece of unvarnished social realism by the controversial maker of Made In Britain and Scum. Compellingly, Alan Clarke records the deadly, soulless energy of football vandalism, setting the stage for many films on hooliganism to follow, including Ultrà, The Footbal Factory, and Green Street Hooligans. This drama, produced by the BBC, was censured by them at the time, and can now be seen for the first time in the original director's cut.
© BBC / BFI Video