A care home is no haven for a young girl in Samantha Morton's
directorial debut, says Anabel Unity
Sale
The Unloved, the directorial debut of Oscar-nominated
actress and former care leaver Samantha Morton, opens with gentle
birdsong and a black screen. A young girl's voice recites the
prayer "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?"
as it cuts to a shot of her lying motionless at the bottom of the
stairs.
Lucy, the 11-year-old speaking, has a lot to be fearful of. Her
father, played by a desperate-looking Robert Carlyle, is angry
because she is empty-handed and two hours late back from the shops
to buy his cigarettes with his last £5 ("that's all we had" he
sobs). He takes off his leather belt and viciously beats her - not
Grisoni, The Unloved is an intense, dark glimpse into what
life in care feels like for a young girl. Morton was in care
several times herself as a child in Nottingham, where the film is
set. It expertly portrays the loneliness and isolation Lucy
experiences as she moves into Crop Row, a children's home, because
no foster carers have a placement for her.
Friendship
There she shares a room with 16-year-old Lauren and they build a
friendship, mainly played out in a shopping centre the pair run
away to. Actresses Molly Windsor (Lucy) and Lauren Socha (Lauren)
both wear the same blank facial expression to mask the pain they
experience. Life in the children's home is harsh and Morton does
not flinch from showing sexual abuse, violence and solvent
misuse.
Morton admits she was inspired by films like The American
Friend and The Man Without A Past and this shows in
her painstaking direction. There are many close ups of Lucy - who
rarely speaks but asks whenever she has the chance, "why can't I
live with my mummy?" - and the adults inhabit the background. The
social workers and children's home staff dealing with Lucy range
from the caring to the distant.
The Unloved makes for uncomfortable watching. All in
social work should watch it.
The Unloved is shown on Channel 4 on Sunday 17 May at 9pm
as part of its Britain's Forgotten Children season.
This article is published in the 14 May issue of
Community Care under the heading Cold-hearted
care