Review

Paddy Meehan is a "copy boy" working for the Daily News in the Glasgow of 1982. She hopes to one day become an investigative reporter and make a difference in the world, though her aspirations look to be pipe dreams given the chauvinistic world of newspaper journalism at the time. Making her life tougher is her family situation which revolves around strict Roman Catholic fundamentalism and her fiancé who is quite happy to accept the status quo.

When a toddler is murdered and the culprit appears to be Paddy's pre-teen cousin her work and home life come into direct conflict. Especially when a Journalist publishes a piece that quotes an "unnamed family source" based on confidential fears Paddy is having difficulty with. Believing her cousin to be innocent Paddy gradually makes a connection to an earlier murder of an ankle biter, but in doing so she draws attention to herself and her colleagues. Can Paddy work out what's going down before things get really out of control, and we're not just talking her boiled egg diets.

The Field of Blood originally appeared on BBC Scotland as a two part television miniseries featuring heavy Glaswegian accents and depressing looking environments. Thankfully Icon decided the series had merit and have released a DVD version that pretty much presents the two parter as a single tele-movie for local connoisseurs of all things dark and moody. The sharp eyed and bushy tailed will be able to spot the split between the separate episodes, but overall I thought the "movie" flowed fine from whoa to go. If you like murder mysteries then this outing is just the ticket, though uncomfortably the plot dials in the Jamie Bulger case.

There's a lot to like about this exercise in detective work and I guess the odd thing to wonder about. The streets of Glasgow look depressingly authentic for the period, hey I'm no expert I'm relying on documentaries down the years here, and for sure the post punk soundtrack summed up the times. Nice touch of Paddy listening to cassette tapes for mine, kids ask your parents, there was music before iTunes turned rebellious youth into compliant pod people you know. I also dug the news room, which was naturally fill of hard drinking chain smoking journos one step removed from used car dealers.

Could this be the start of a beautiful, yet disturbing, relationship? We want more Paddy Meehan

There's a number of sub-plot going down during the course of The Field of Blood that bode well for future episodes, if any are made. Before you ask, I'm up for the future adventures of Paddy, this is the BBC at its best. The strict Roman Catholic family environment at first threw me, there didn't seem to be rhythm nor reason to the home front situation. But I have to say David Kane and novelist Denise Mina nail the concept of the ambitious Paddy finding her career confronting her family expectations head on. Her mother, a formidable Irish Catholic woman, is clearly not happy with where Paddy is going but as the movie advances we gradually learn that Paddy's determination and fierce confrontation of the obstacles in her path reflect her mother's staunch defence of her family and the home fires. The final scene speaks volumes as to the original Author's intent, Paddy may have saved her cousin, and thus protected her family, but she is no longer a part of that family, she has gone beyond her mother's reach to a certain extent. And right there we have the requirement of all good dark genre literature and movies, the central protagonist must through trial and tribulation come to a new understanding of their humanity. The dark genre is not a static world as say Sci-Fi is, everything changes, don't get comfortable.

Perhaps the only aspect of The Field of Blood that wasn't working for me was Paddy's fiancé. For sure the plot is meant to show that Paddy is throwing off the shackles of expectation, but come on, the device really went no where and to be honest I was left thinking of either padding or one of those ideas that should have hit the editing room floor. Maybe the fiancé comes into far more prominence in the series of novels the movie is drawn from? Sorry haven't read them but have a notion in my ocean I might spend some of the budget and fling the books at someone else to decipher.

A couple of minor points and then I'll close this one. I note on line a lot of people are complaining about the Glaswegian accents. Suck it up folks, I didn't have a problem understanding even a single line of dialogue, maybe your own accent might need subtitles. And the whole Judas thing, sorry that didn't come through in the adaptation, guess it's a line pushed in the books, don't look for it Director Kane isn't pushing that particular Christian wheelbarrow to market. Actually would make a fairly stunning central concept, though probably been done previously.

When The Field of Blood arrived on my desktop I wasn't quite sure of it, another dark genre outing that had slipped under the radar? What I got was an absorbing murder mystery with a sympathetic central character that had me glued to the television from first frame to last frame. The Mother's anguish when she finds that her young son Brian has gone missing, the gradual infiltration of the case into Paddy's work and home life, and the confronting resolution. It's all done in post punk grunge reality that simply screams out to be watched. I've got no compunction in fully recommending this one to both dark genre voyagers and the folk that watch all those Brit murder mysterious. This is one of those outings where you won't be able to pick out the antagonist till the final unveiling, there's your challenge for the day yo!

For Downunder readers Icon Distribution have a DVD movie length presentation heading your way, if in Britain then the show has no doubt been and gone, for anyone else check if you have a local Icon branch or hit the net and see who has the rights to the movie in your market. At worse you may have to import the disc, worth your trouble regardless.