An angel in the ashes

Image: www.slant.com

The BBC’s “Red Riding” project, based on the novels by David Peace, is a project of such scope that it resulted in three directors tackling the material in three different chapters. “The Red Riding Trilogy”, as it was then called, runs at a total of 298 minutes. The three entries (by Julian Jarrold, James Marsh and Anand Tucker) span a decade and are called by their years: “1974”, “1980” and “1983”.  The first part deals with death and betrayal; the second with defeat and disintegration; the third, finally, attempts some sort of redemption (it may well be too late from some characters). It originally screened as a mini-series on the BBC in 2009 and had special theatrical screenings in the US the following year.

On its surface, “Red Riding” is a serial killer narrative and a police procedural; viewers should pay attention to all details in the three movies as seemingly minor characters and events obtain significance later. In “1974”, Andrew Garfield is a young journalist investigating the murder of a girl who had swan wings stitched onto her back. His investigation reveals a conspiracy which extends into the second film, “1980”, where Paddy Considine (so memorable in the family drama “In America”) stars as a top cop assigned to catch the Yorkshire Ripper.

Finally, everything comes to a full in “1983”, where a washed up lawyer (Mark Addy) and desperate policeman (David Morrissey) unknowingly collaborate to bring closure to certain events. Underlying the whole series is the idea of some major conspiracy that involves rampant police corruption and various forms of unethical conduct. As is the case with many successful trilogies, the full impact of the story only hits when the entries are seen as a whole, and it makes “Red Riding” one of the most impressive film projects of the past few years.

The different eras are convincingly recreated through design and grading, and the stories are sensitively told by some of Britain’s foremost directors. Their imagery is impressive, detailed and nuanced; seldom has a falling snowflake seemed so utterly desolate, or an interrogation room so much like a torture pit. Make sure you can afford to put aside either a whole day or two successive evenings to watch one of the finest thrillers to come from the UK.

South Africans can order “The Red Riding Trilogy” from www.amazon.co.uk for close to R120 for the 3-disc set. Note that it comes with almost no extras, no option for subtitles and inferior sound quality.