Bronson (film)
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''Bronson'' is a 2008 British
biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudra ...
directed by
Nicolas Winding Refn Nicolas Winding Refn (; born 29 September 1970), also known as Jang, is a Danish film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is known for his collaborations with Mads Mikkelsen, Tom Hardy and Ryan Gosling. He gained great success early in ...
, based on a script written by Refn and Brock Norman Brock. The film stars Tom Hardy as Michael Peterson, known from 1987 as
Charles Bronson Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his "granite features and brawny physique," he gained international fame for his starring roles in action, Western, and war ...
. The film follows the life of this prisoner, considered Britain's most violent criminal, who has been responsible for a dozen or so cases of hostage taking while incarcerated. He was given the name Charles Bronson by his fight promoter, for his bare-knuckle fighting years. Born into a respectable middle-class family, Peterson became known as one of the United Kingdom's most dangerous prisoners. Because of his violence, Bronson was repeatedly put into isolation or
solitary confinement Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...
, which may have contributed to his emotional problems.


Plot

The film begins with scenes from Peterson's delinquent early life which he narrates with self-deprecating humor. Initially he addresses the camera dressed in prison garb; other times, he tells his tale in a vaudeville-style theatre with a live audience. The film's story unfolds as a
surreal Surreal may refer to: *Anything related to or characteristic of Surrealism, a movement in philosophy and art * "Surreal" (song), a 2000 song by Ayumi Hamasaki * ''Surreal'' (album), an album by Man Raze *Surreal humour, a common aspect of humor ...
narrative of connected vignettes punctuated by vaudeville interludes. He recounts episodes of crime and violence leading to his first prison sentence of seven years. At sentencing, his mother hopes he will be out in four but his violence in prison extends his sentence beyond seven years. He is sent to a
psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...
, where he continues to rebel and is administered drugs which he claims make him physically weak. His first escape attempt is to walk sluggishly toward the exit, where he is waved back to a chair by a staffer. He decides to escape by earning a transfer back to prison and attempts to strangle a detainee that revealed himself to be a
pedophile Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty a ...
, but is apprehended before killing the man. He comments to the audience that despite all his prison time and
solitary confinement Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...
, he has never killed anyone. In the vaudeville theatre, he shows film footage of a rooftop protest during which he claims to have caused "tens of millions of pounds' damage". He credits this destruction with the government's decision to declare him "sane" and have him released. After a brief reunion with his parents, he sets off to see his flamboyant Uncle Jack. He is welcomed and reintroduced to an old prison mate who promises to set him up as a
bare-knuckle boxer Bare-knuckle boxing (or simply bare-knuckle) is a combat sport which involves two individuals throwing punches at each other for a predetermined amount of time without any boxing gloves or other form of padding on their hands. It is a regulated ...
, and gives him the name Charles Bronson, after the American actor. Bronson enjoys the violence and showmanship of bare-knuckle boxing. Not content with his meagre winnings, he ups the stakes by fighting two opponents at once and even fights a dog. He proposes to a woman and steals a thousand-pound ring in the hope that she will marry him. She declines; after sixty-nine days of freedom, Bronson is sent back to jail. He takes the prison librarian hostage and waits for reinforcements to arrive, alternately screaming at his hostage and peaceably enquiring after his family. When other guards arrive, he strips naked and forces the librarian to assist in applying his "body armor" of
petroleum jelly Petroleum jelly, petrolatum, white petrolatum, soft paraffin, or multi-hydrocarbon, CAS number 8009-03-8, is a semi-solid mixture of hydrocarbons (with carbon numbers mainly higher than 25), originally promoted as a topical ointment for its h ...
, to make him harder to grab in the imminent brawl. After being restrained, he is warned by the prison governor that he will die inside if his behavior does not improve. Encouraged by a prison art teacher, who notices something special in his drawings, he becomes a model prisoner for a while, channeling his confusion and pain into vivid imagery of birds and grotesque creatures. When told that the art studio will be closing, Bronson attacks the teacher and holds him hostage. While prison officials wait outside, he demands music be played. He paints his naked body black and ties the teacher to a post. He paints a moustache onto the teacher's face, forces an apple into his mouth and removes his hat and glasses to put on the teacher's head, making the teacher into a parody of a Magritte painting. After this human
still-life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or man-made (drinking glasses, boo ...
has been arranged to his satisfaction, he accepts his fate, calling for the prison guards to burst in for yet another brawl, for which he will be sent back to solitary confinement.


Cast

* Tom Hardy as Michael Gordon Peterson / Charles Bronson *
Matt King Matthew or Matt King may refer to: Matthew * Matthew King (composer) (born 1967), British composer and pianist * Matthew King (cricketer) (born 1977), Australian cricketer * Matthew Yang King (born 1974), American actor, voice actor, director, prod ...
as Paul Daniels, nightclub owner and former fellow prisoner *
James Lance James Frederick Grenville Lance (born 29 September 1974) is an English actor, best known for his appearances in a number of British comedy series and the British-American comedy series ''Ted Lasso'' for which he was nominated for a Primetime E ...
as Phil Danielson, prison art teacher *
Amanda Burton Irene Amanda Burton is a Northern Irish actress. Her notable credits include Heather Haversham in the Channel 4 soap opera ''Brookside'' (1982–1986), Beth Glover in the ITV drama series ''Peak Practice'' (1993–1995), Sam Ryan in the BBC c ...
as Charlie's mother *
Kelly Adams Kelly Diane Adams (born 16 October 1979) is an English actress. She has played leading roles in a number of British television series: Mickie Hendrie in the BBC One medical drama series '' Holby City'' (2004–2006) and ''Casualty'' (2005); Emm ...
as Irene Peterson, Charlie's wife * Juliet Oldfield as Alison, Charlie's lover * Jonathan Phillips as the Prison Governor *
Mark Powley Mark Powley (born 4 October 1963) is a British actor known for his work on television. He appeared in 88 episodes of police drama ''The Bill'' as P.C Melvin (1987–1990), and as builder Tom in BBC sitcom '' Next of Kin'' for 2 series (1995†...
as Prison Officer Andy Love * Hugh Ross as Uncle Jack * Luing Andrews as Prison Officer * Joe Tucker as John White, fellow patient in Rampton * Gordon Brown as Screw, the first guard Bronson fights * Charlie Whyman as fellow patient in Rampton


Production

For the role, Hardy had telephone conversations with Charles Bronson, before meeting him. Bronson was so impressed by how Hardy had managed to build up his physique for the role and how good he was at imitating him, that he shaved off his trademark moustache for it to be used as a prop for Hardy to wear in the film. "I honestly believe nobody on the planet could play me as Tom did. He is more like me than I am", Bronson told ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
''. Filming was done in and around the St. Ann's and Sherwood districts of Nottingham, and Worksop and
Welbeck Abbey Welbeck Abbey in the Dukeries in North Nottinghamshire was the site of a monastery belonging to the Premonstratensian order in England and after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a country house residence of the Dukes of Portland. It is one ...
in north Nottinghamshire. In a late 2009 interview with Michael Slenske of ''
Interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" ...
'' magazine, Tom Hardy discussed the fitness routine he had developed to get in shape to play Bronson,


Reception


Box office

''Bronson'' grossed $2,260,712 at the box office.


Critical response

Upon release, ''Bronson'' received positive reviews, with many praising Hardy's performance, the film's writing and direction, as well as the humour and the action sequences, though it was criticised for its violence.
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, a
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
, gives the film an approval rating of 76% based on reviews from 82 critics, with an average rating of 6.6 out of 10 with the consensus "Undeniably gripping, ''Bronson'' forces the viewer to make some hard decisions about where the line between art and exploitation lies."
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
gives the film a "generally favourable" average score of 71 out of 100 based on 22 reviews.
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
gave the film three stars out of four and praised the decision not to attempt to rationalise and explain Bronson's behaviour, stating in his review: Bronson was not initially allowed to view the film, but had said that if his mother liked it, he was sure he would as well. According to Refn's DVD
audio commentary An audio commentary is an additional audio track, usually digital, consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with a video. Commentaries can be serious or entertaining in nature, and can add informatio ...
, his mother said she loved it. On 15 November 2011, he was granted permission to view it. Describing it as "theatrical, creative, and brilliant", Bronson heaped praise upon Hardy, but disagreed on the implied distance between himself and his father; and the portrayal of Paul Edmunds, a former prisoner and nightclub owner (portrayed in the film by
Matt King Matthew or Matt King may refer to: Matthew * Matthew King (composer) (born 1967), British composer and pianist * Matthew King (cricketer) (born 1977), Australian cricketer * Matthew Yang King (born 1974), American actor, voice actor, director, prod ...
as Paul Daniels) as "a bit of a ponce". Bronson challenged his own family's reaction to the portrayal of his Uncle Jack, stating that he "loved" it, as would Jack himself. Bronson's trust in Hardy's acting grew such that once he had seen the film, he said, "If I were to die in jail then at least I live on through Britain's No 1 actor". Bronson had been originally displeased with the choice of Hardy as star, but during their first meeting in person, Hardy assured him that he would "fix it"."Tom Hardy: Becoming Bronson"
Ask Men AskMen is a free online men's web portal, with international versions in Australia, Canada, the Middle East, the United Kingdom and the United States. It is owned by Ziff Davis and operates through the IGN Entertainment unit. History AskMen was ...
. 2008. Retrieved 26 January 2019.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bronson 2008 films 2000s biographical films 2000s prison drama films Biographical films about criminals British biographical films British prison drama films Crime films based on actual events Drama films based on actual events Films directed by Nicolas Winding Refn Films set in the 1970s Films set in the 1980s Films set in the 1990s Films set in Luton Films set in England Films shot in Cornwall Films shot in Nottinghamshire Magnet Releasing films Vertigo Films films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films 2000s British films