Directed by Andrea Arnold
Reminiscent of The Live of Others, Jackie (Kate Dickie) is a CCTV operator who watches over her small part of the world, the mean streets surrounding a desolate Glaswegian block of flats in Red Road. Also reminiscent of The Lives of Others, she becomes personally involved with some of the people she is monitoring. First is the man whose aging dog becomes sicker and sicker before being taken away to be put down. Then it is a man from her past, a man whom she had hoped never to see again. Clyde (Tony Curran) has just been released from a stint in prison when Jackie spots him on one of the screens she is monitoring. She feverishly tracks his movements from monitor to monitor and continues her detective work on monitors overseen by others in her department. No reason is given for her obsession as the audience watches Jackie watching Clyde.
Jackie’s life is pretty desolate, her one relationship consisting of an occasional shag with a married colleague in the front seat of a car. When Jackie’s electronic surveillance is replaced by actual stalking it would appear that Jackie has strong motives of revenge. Although the actual crime isn’t revealed until the last act of the film, the trail of seduction that Jackie nervously takes is very unsettling. Clyde is a relatively easy target and it would appear that Jackie is both enraged and turned on. The audience of course becomes the voyeurs as Jackie’s disturbing personal vendetta comes to fruition.
Winning the Jury Prize at Cannes, Arnold’s haunting film is part of a project hatched by the Dogme-influenced Zentropa film company. Three directors were invited to construct films based on a group of characters, and this provocative film is the first of the three to be produced. I highly recommend this one and can hardly wait for the other two.
