The War zone (E)

Based on Alexander Stuart’s novel about incest in a middle-class English family, this confronting and emotionally complex film deals with fifteen year old Tom’s growing awareness that his older sister, Jessie, is being sexually abused by their father. Tom’s isolation from his family is made worse by his anger at their relocation from London to the lonely coast of Devon, and by his having to keep his anxieties and fears from his mother who has just given birth to a baby girl. But as Jessie’s behaviour becomes more self-destructive, as Tom’s suspicions find confirmation, and as he begins to mistrust his father’s relationships with the three women of the house, Tom becomes more convinced that he must act. Shot in long dark takes which powerfully suggest Tom’s growing claustrophobia in the family “war zone”, and featuring outstanding performances by Ray Winstone and Tilda Swinton as the parents, and by first time performers Lara Belmont and Freddie Cunliffe as Jessie and Tom, “The War Zone” is a chilling and adult examination of familial betrayal and abuse.