From the very first images of this film, which has just appeared in theatres, it is difficult not to recall the Taviani brothers' 1977 "Padre Padre". The story, in many respects, is similar and focuses on a strong father figure who believes its own unique and irreplaceable code of nature and culture. In this vein, Italian cinema has given us many important works on the often conflicting relationship between parents and children. We mention just a few: "In the Son's Room" by Nanni Moretti, the little-known "As God Commands" by Gabriele Salvatores, "Travelling with Dad" with Alberto Sordi.
The plot of "Criminal Code" is as simple as it is archaic and complex, sometimes dramatic. A father wants to impose his vision of the world on his son (topical phrase: "my father always told me that the earth is flat and I believe in it") with good manners, few, but more often with violence and brutality. Even school, education, is seen by the elderly parent as a dangerous tool of emancipation and, as such, to be strongly avoided while the only pedagogical foundation is the criminal code that has been in force in the family for generations.
From this point of view, the film by debutant director Adam Smith doesn't tell us much new about what we already know and have seen at the cinema. Everything rests on the shoulders of the two great protagonists: the head of the family Colby (Brendan Gleeson) and his son Chad (Michael Fassbender), two solid Irish actors with remarkable expressive skills, and the rest of the family, in this case a nomadic clan camped in a magnificent english countryside. The group lives by criminal expedients and is at constant war with the local police authorities until a limit is crossed which precipitates events. Side note: the film represents the story of a little-known reality of English nomadic families, apparently far from those known to us of European origin.
The father-son conflict brings us back to an ancestral theme where literature, not to mention psychology, have written fundamental pages. "Criminal Code" proposes a positive vision, a possible solution based on respect and love rather than violence and prevarication. In truth this occurs through a generational break: the bad father remains bad but the good son wants to break the chain and offer his son a completely different model from the one received. And this is also possible through school, education, the possibility of being part of a different world than the one in which one grew up.
The film runs fast, the screenplay is flat and compelling, the director carefully guides all the figures and sequences, including the more dynamic or surreal ones. The images are clean and evocative and there are some surreal scenes such as the final one which, alone, deserves a viewing of the film. It is a pity that the film is proposed in the height of the summer season, where the box office is usually stingy. He deserved better luck.
