AllMovie

A young boy struggles with his family during England's pre-war depression in this drama directed by Stephen Frears. Liam (Anthony Borrows) is a seven-year-old growing up in a working-class family in Liverpool during the early 1930s. Liam's dad (Ian Hart) and older brother Con (David Hart) both work at the nearby shipyards, and his sister Teresa (Megan Burn) works as a domestic for a wealthy Jewish family. Liam, who suffers from a speech defect, is not always happy at school, where his teacher (Anne Reid) and his priest (Russell Dixon) spend nearly as much time lecturing students about the wages of sin as they do covering the three R's. The family's troubles mount when the shipyard is shut down as England sinks into an economic downturn; angry and confused after losing his job, Dad becomes a member of a fascist organization that blames the nation's troubles on Jews and the Irish. Young Liam is forced to come to terms with his father's intolerance -- and the violence that it spawns. Liam also features a standout performance by Claire Hackett as Liam's Mam.