Harry Brown

Companies responsible for making it: 

• Marv Films (presents) (as Marv Partners)
• UK Film Council (presents)
• HanWay Films (in association with)
• Prescience Film Fund (in association with) (as Prescience)
• Framestore (in association with) (as Framestore Features)
• Prescience

Year of release: 11 November 2009 (UK)

Classification: 
- UK:18.
- Rated R for strong violence and language throughout, drug use and sexual content. 

Budget: $7,300,000

Revenue: $1,818,681 (USA)
                    £4,557,776 (UK)
                    $6,294,140 (Worldwide box office)

Information found on: http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Harry-Brown#tab=summary
                                            http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1289406/

brief synopsis:
- 'Harry Brown' is about an old man who used to be a former royal marine. He currently lives on an estate where the town is full of gangs. During the beginning of the film, Harry's wife passes away and he is left with only his best friend Lee. Lee talks to Harry about being scared of the gangs and shows a knife that he uses to defend himself. Harry is later told that Lee was murdered in a fire in his flat. Lack of evidence from the suspects mean the case cannot be investigated so it is dropped and they are released. 
- After hearing news about Lee's murder, Harry decides to take things into his own hands. He manages to get himself a pistol deal but things go wrong when he get threatened as he asks for an ambulance for the girl. Harry then has to ambush the pair and kills them both.
-After ambushing the pair, he steals some weapons, burns down the den and takes the girl to hospital in their car. The bag which contains money, is taken to the church where he deposits the money after giving some to the girl.
- Harry then watches over the gang from Lee's old apartment. Harry kills the newest member of the gang. He uses a gang member as bait for Noal and another gang member into a gunfight. Noel is able to escape but the other gang member is killed. Harry chases after Noel but falls down after having an attack and is taken to hospital. 
- Car crash in the riots. Harry rescues them and takes them to Sid's pub, where Frampton confronts Harry and tells him that Sid is actually Noel's uncle. 
- Sid appears to be apologetic but as Harry drops his guard with an emphysema attack Sid takes his gun and delivers a vicious blow.
- Noel kicks and pounds the already injured Detective Inspector. Harry is thrown on the floor semi-conscious.
- Sid suffocates Hicock to death while Noel begins strangling Frampton. Harry then manages to draws a revolver and kills Noel and Sid in return shoots Harry. Harry asks to be taken out of his misery but before Sid can finally execute him, Frampton's police backup arrives and he is gunned down by a police marksman.
- The final scene is of Harry walking toward the underpass - it's quiet and the gang nowhere in sight. 



How it's told:
- It's told in a way that makes the audience empathise with Harry. It is seen from his point of view so that the audience can understand why he did the things he had to do. This point of view filming enables Harry to be able to get away with the killings and not get hate from the audience because they know that he is doing it to protect the community and make it safe for the people who live in it. By showing his viewpoint, the crimes that Harry commits are seen as slightly good because he is stopping the gang who commit hideous crimes on the innocent members of the public. This means that he's seen as more of a hero than a killer. 



Notes:

• At the beginning of the film, a bunch of youths are seen to be doing drugs and holding a gun. Some youth are then seen to be driving on a motorbike/moped when a mother in a park is shot by these youths. The youths are then seen to drive into a lorry and get killed. This part of the film is recorded with a camera that gives the impression that it's being recorded with a camera phone. This was done to give the audience a sense of realism and that what was happening appeared genuine and that the audience were a part of it.

• The location of the film makes the overall appearance more effective. This is because the location helps for the audience to get a deeper understanding of the way Harry, the youths and the community live. Although it's no excuse for the youths to commit such crimes, the audience can see that their backgrounds and lives aren't the best so it may be the only thing that the youths can do to keep themselves entertained. 

• The titles have been specifically positioned in order to create a sense of the film. The names of the cast are all the same size - small This has been done to show the fact that Harry Brown is just another part of society and that he is no different to the youths and other members of the community.

• The wiping of the crumbs can also be seen as a metaphor for the next part of the film. Harry wipes away the crumbs off the table because it's rubbish. This can also indicate what is going to happen next because Harry ends up killing the gang. In his eyes, the gang are seen as rubbish. He is therefore symbolising the getting rid of the crumbs with the getting rid of the gang.

• The lighting within this film was made to look as natural as possible. There wasn't too much artificial lighting, which made the film look more affective. The lighting within the pub was minimal to make the audience think that the direction of the light was coming from a window on the right of Lee and the left of Harry.

• The location of Harry's flat is on an estate that doesn't look appealing. There is rubbish found within the grounds and graffiti on the walls. The shot of the two officers walking out of Harry's flat after telling him that Lee is dead, has been made to look as bad as possible. This shot shows a black bag, a car with no hubcaps and writing on the walls. This has been made to look this way so the audience can get a better understanding of the way the people live and look after their estate. 

• Set design - been made specifically to look more run down and follow the style of the estate. This therefore makes the scenes look more old and dirty like the estate in which it was filmed on.