Yet, while both of these things are true, that doesn’t necessarily make the results as brilliant as his champions claim. In last night’s Freefall (BBC Two), Savage took on the credit crunch. Once again, his heartfelt approach was on full display – but so was its most obvious downside: a complete lack of subtlety.
In the opening scene, set in the far-off days of 2007, the boss of a Watford mortgage firm was exhorting his troops. They must, he told them, banish all compassion as they flogged dodgy packages to people who couldn’t afford them. Inspired by these words, his star salesman Dave (Dominic Cooper) now went about his business with almost satanic glee – cackling “What a d--khead” as he drove away from another soon-to-be-destitute punter.
It turned out, too, that Dave had some serious competition in the greedy-villain stakes. In the City of London, banker Gus (Aidan Gillen) was so excited by closing another deal that he went to the toilets to masturbate. Over lunch with his teenage daughter, his utter obsession with money meant that he gave her (and us) a handy explanation of mortgage collateralised debt obligations.
In the meantime Dave was chasing his biggest-baddie crown even harder than before. His old school-friend Jim (Joseph Mawle) had already been established as the very definition of “poor but happy”, joshing away with his loving family in their rented council house. Even so, Dave persuaded him to take out a discounted mortgage, without explaining how much the repayments would increase in the second year.
And with that, the caption “one year later” appeared. Sure enough, Jim was about to open a letter from the mortgage company and look stricken. Life wasn’t much better for Gus. “I’m afraid it’s still going down,” an underling reported. “We’ve just lost another 10billion.”
Jim’s story did pack a genuine emotional punch, with Mawle and Anna Maxwell Martin as his wife Mandy both doing a superb job of capturing the couple’s mixture of anger, horror and bewilderment. But as representatives of The Human Cost of the Credit Crunch, their characters had the advantage of enjoying Savage’s sympathy. Poor old Gillen and Cooper weren’t so lucky. Cooper in particular was stuck with such a caricature that he had little choice but to play it to the hilt. Unfortunately, this made it impossible to see how Dave could ever have taken anybody in – given that he might as well have had horns and a forked tail.
In these sledgehammer circumstances, the last thing Freefall needed at the end was an author’s message. Naturally, however, Savage couldn’t resist. “This,” Gus obligingly pointed out as the crash hit, “is payback time.” We then got a stern lecture from Mandy on the corrupting power of greed.
Earlier in the evening, the fourth series of Coast (BBC Two) began by explaining why some later episodes will take place in Norway and France. Apparently it’s because “the connections with other countries” have made us what we are today – and not, as you may have thought, that the makers are running out of British coastline to tell us about.
In the meantime, though, yesterday’s programme was largely business as usual. Presenter Neil Oliver addressed the camera with that whispered intimacy that’s either irresistible or faintly creepy according to taste. He also introduced a series of vaguely coast-related items treated in a way known in the trade as “presenter-led”. Anthropology expert Alice Roberts, for example, supplied a history of the hovercraft that heavily featured her own reactions to travelling in a hovercraft. Oliver himself explored early film-making by dressing up in a director’s outfit and waving a megaphone around.
Luckily, Coast does retain its happy knack of choosing interesting subjects in the first place, and cramming them in. Certainly I can’t think of many other hour-long programmes that could find room – among the hovercrafts, movies and much else besides – for Finland’s leading crazy-golf player, the story of the Hungarian marsh frog and the history of the Isle of Wight over the past 135million years. Or of one that could successfully demonstrate the geological concept of “isostatic rebound” using a rucksack and an inflatable mattress(TV review) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/5828281/TV-review-Freefall-BBC-Two-and-Coast-BBC-Two.html
http://www.thedramastudent.co.uk/2009/07/television-its-crunch-time-for-bbc-drama-freefall/
It’s a story that will have resonated with the British public, tackling the credit crunch and the highs of the boom where mortgage lending was offered to pretty much anyone, and the inevitable lows of the bust when their repayments were missed.
Written by BAFTA award-winning Dominic Savage with a brilliant all-star cast improvising through each scene, we delve into the uncomfortable world of finance. The drama kicks off in the heady days of 2007 where lending was readily available. Dave Matthews (played by Dominic Cooper pictured) is a hot-shot broker armed with a fatal discounted mortgage which he sells to the gullible. Pushing all morals aside, he’s well aware they can’t afford them, but there’s money to be made and he’ll stop at nothing.
Equally without a conscience, we explore City banker Aidan Gillen’s addiction to closing the deals on a mammoth scale. Gus’s relationship breakdown with his daughter and girlfriend of sorts Anna (Rosamund Pike) make us believe his sole drive in life is to make as much money as possible, losing the ability to care and love.
He leads a simple life and is happy with his lot, but that soon changes when he hooks up with old school pal Dave who encourages him to have greater aspirations.
At the bottom of the chain, we follow Jim (Joseph Mawle) and his family living a rented council flat. He leads a simple life and is happy with his lot, but that soon changes when he hooks up with old school pal Dave who encourages him to have greater aspirations. Jim ultimately succumbs and although his wife Mandy (Anna Maxwell Martin) has her doubts, they sign up for one of Dave’s dodgy mortgages. Of course, he fails to tell them that after the year’s fixed rate, the repayments will rocket for the remaining two year term.
One year later, Jim opens the letter from his building society with news of the increase. It’s a devastating revelation for the security guard who has to take on extra shifts and is eventually sacked for falling asleep on the job. Repayments mount up and in the end they’re back where they started, a lesson that almost destroys them.
It’s not much better for Gus in the City, who loses billions in the downturn. It’s not long before things spiral out of control. “This is payback time,” he says predicting the outcome. Doing the deals defined who he was, what was left for him?
Freefall is a gritty and real drama that exposes the greedy and selfish.
Yet it’s ex-broker Dave who seems to readjust well to his new life. Although he has to sell his big house in the suburbs, he downscales to a stylish apartment, acquires a new girlfriend and starts a new job selling solar power, seemingly indicating that a top salesperson will always ‘get by’.
Freefall is a gritty and real drama that exposes the greedy and selfish. The ‘fly on the wall’ filming style is effective and Savage manages to bring out some skilful performances, in particular from Mawle and Maxwell Martin’s broke husband and wife. At times though the dialogue is overplayed and would have perhaps benefited by a touch of subtlety here and there. Nevertheless, Freefall is a compelling view of the devastating impact on those at each end of the scale of capitalism.
THIS WAS MY RESEARCH ON FREEFALL...
WOW. This is an excellent example of what we would like to acheive. Representations of the spectrum of classes. "going down the ladder" of classes and representing contemporary British identity. Fixing up the missing links of well-known soaps such as EastEnders and bringing it forwards to the contemporary working world (where some people have washing machines!).
The reviews are quite pleasing. "The fly on the wall" effect is just what we wanted.. not decorating storylines with hollywood inspired happy merry endings.. the raw version of represented life. People want the truth! Some of the characters are happy with their life even thought they are not advantaged as others in luxury.. there are people like that! The real people who are happy just to have a roof over their head and people to talk to.
As a media consumer and producer it is exciting to see new dramas and soaps which is relatable. As humans we want to know what is happening to other people and why people are upset and to have sympathy as well as empathy for people.
No comments:
Post a Comment