The Selfish Giant is a 2013 British drama film
directed by Clio Barnard. It is inspired by the Oscar Wilde story of the same
name. It follows the lives of two teenage boys growing up in an impoverished area
of Bradford in Northern England. The film is centred on the friendship of two
boys, Arbor and Swifty. Arbor has attention deficit disorder which causes him
to act out and misbehave even if it is not his intention to do so; this causes
issue for the pair who because of Arbor are excluded from school. From there they
decide that selling scrap is a lucrative idea, and stealing from railway lines,
power lines, and anything they can find can get them money from the local scrap
dealer, Kitten. It is a story about living with crime and also the friendship
between Swifty and Arbor, it is clear that it is a strong one as the film opens
onto Arbor having an episode until Swifty appears, and holds his hand to calm
him down. It would seem that he is the only one that can do so, as further on
in the film Arbor has an argument with his drug addicted older brother which
causes him to fly off into a rage until his mum turns to Swifty and asks him to
get Arbor off to school as it appears he is the only one who can calm him down.
Kitten also owns at least two horses and takes part in
amateur cart racing with them, after a failed cart race he notices Swifty’s
natural ability with the animal and asks him to take part in the next race,
this causes a rift to from between the boys as Swifty’s ability with the animal
causes much jealousy for Arbor as he Is often the more dominant one in the
relationship.
Swifty is a large, but quite boy who is always
described as “Soft”. This eventually leads to his downfall as because of this
softness he forgives Arbor for killing a fowl whilst testing a power line, this
is foreshadowing for later in the film as this fowl seems to represent Swifty
who eventually is killed by a power line himself as Arbor is forced to steal it
having been caught taking copper from Kitten. The scene in that shows Swifty’s
devise is a powerful one as it is the end of the relationship for the boys, the
beginning of the film opens to Arbor raging and Swifty consoling him, holding
his hand and their relationship ends with a black, charred Swifty still clutching
Arbor’s hand.
The sequence after Swifty’s death is a powerful one,
Arbor takes to sitting outside Swifty’s parent’s house in the rain. He clearly
fills guilty for Swifty’s death and keeps going back to the house for forgiveness
despite countless rejections until finally Swifty’s mother relents and hugs
Arbor as they share in the grief of loss.
There is one finally scene with Swifty involved, after
having been forgiven he still lies under his bed unmoving until his brother
comes and tries to talk to him, as Swifty did when he was in one of his rages.
His brother is unable to make him come out and becomes annoyed, grabbing and
pulling Arbor. After this there is a scene where Swifty is lying down next to
him, holding his hand, like at the beginning of the film. We are unsure if this
is a dream or a cut back to another time Swifty consoled Arbor.
The film with Arbor, brushing the horse that Swifty
loved. Taking care of it like he couldn’t Swifty.
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