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  Film: Nell Schofield previews The Bank Job and The Square July 27, 2008 Reporter :Nell Schofield  Watch our reportFilm: Nell Schofield previews The Bank Job and The Square Back in 1971, some small time criminals made a daring assault on a vault in London and pulled off what remains the most successful bank raid in British history. No-one was ever arrested for the crime and rumours ran rife of a right Royal cover up. Now, over three and a half decades later, a new film explores what it was that might have been secreted away in that bank vault that had everyone running so scared. It was too easy to be true. Even actor Jason Statham has trouble believing it. He stars in The Bank Job as Terry Leather, a used car salesman who gets lured into a lucrative proposition by former flame Martine Love, played by the statuesque Saffron Burrows. Obviously names have been changed to protect the guilty in this re-creation of Britain’s most notorious bank robbery but together with a bunch of like-minded amateurs, Love and Leather bumble their way through a deliciously thrilling old fashioned crime. Dubbed the “walkie-talkie” robbery, due to the all too banal conversations that were recorded between the thieves by a nearby ham radio operator, the story made all the headlines but it mysteriously disappeared from the newspapers shortly after. Suspicions at the time were that something was being a covered up. And in this film, that something is a bundle of “Royal Portraits” of a certain scally-wag Princess in some seriously compromising positions. Unearthing this real life cover up has been a joy for Australian born director Roger Donaldson. Working from a script by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais that’s rich in character detail, Donaldson has revisited the scene of the crime and, with the help of at least one of the original participants, has concocted a close approximation of what happened all those years ago. Saffron Burrows cutting a fine Jane Birkin-like figure as Martine Love in The Bank Job. The charm of this film lies in the innocence of the characters and the times in which they operated. There are no closed circuit television cameras observing their every move nor flash mobile phones being intercepted by high tech computers. Just dodgy old walkie talkies, reel to reel tape recorders and pretty clueless cops and M15 operatives trying to keep up the pace. And yet the tension remains palpable throughout thanks to some cracking dialogue and stylish direction. Back in the Land of Oz, a new film by the Edgerton Brothers also ramps up the intrigue as it follows a middle aged man on a downward spiral of self destruction. David Roberts is the sucker Ray, a construction site manager who’s having an illicit affair with the much younger Carla – Claire van der Boom. When Carla finds a stash of cash hidden away by her petty criminal hubby Smithy – Anthony Hayes – she convinces Ray to steal it. And to cover up their tracks, Ray secures the services of the arsonist Billy played by actor/co-screenwriter and executive producer Joel Edgerton. Joel’s older brother Nash Edgerton makes his debut as a feature director with this film, filling the screen with lots of drama and action on a very tight budget. As you might’ve guessed, the women are not the main focus of this film. Carla may be the catalyst for the drama but she doesn’t have an awful lot to do except to prod Ray on his misguided way. And poor old Lucy Bell must be lamenting the lack of strong female roles as she plays yet another downtrodden wife as she did in the recent film Ten Empty. Still, these macho guys pack a punch with Peter Phelps a standout in the small role of Jake, the film’s moral compass. ‘The Chaser’s’ Julian Morrow also makes an appearance as does the aforementioned Bill Hunter. It’s not Shakespeare but the symbolic weight of all the concrete bearing down on these low life characters gives The Square a certain working class force to be reckoned with. |
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