Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1983 (2009)

The seemingly untouchable, corrupt West Yorkshire police, and the true evil mastermind behind the child abductions and murders of the last 14 years, can't resist doing it again. Against them, a fat useless lawyer, and one remorseful copper.

Director:

Anand Tucker

Writers:

David Peace (novel), Tony Grisoni (screenplay)

Stars:

David Morrissey, Lisa Howard, Chris Walker

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
David Morrissey	...	Maurice Jobson
Lisa Howard	...	Judith Jobson
Chris Walker	...	Jim Prentice
Shaun Dooley	...	Dick Alderman
Jim Carter	...	Harold Angus
Warren Clarke	...	Bill Molloy
Sean Bean	...	John Dawson
Sean Harris	...	Bob Craven
Steven Robertson	...	Bob Fraser
Tony Mooney	...	Tommy Douglas
Tony Pitts	...	John Nolan
Michelle Dockery	...	Kathryn Tyler
Andrew Cryer	...	Mr Atkins (as Andy Cryer)
Mark Addy	...	John Piggott
Beatrice Kelley	...	Mrs Myshkin

Storyline

A murky tale. A child goes missing in West Yorkshire, one of several over ten years; the police find a patsy, an acquaintance of Michael, a blood simple man serving a life sentence for another girl's death. Michael's mother asks John Piggott, a burned-out solicitor, to look into her son's conviction; Piggott finds injustices in current and past cases. Maurice Jobson, part of a group of corrupt cops, searches for the missing girl, involves a medium, finds nothing, leans hard on Piggott, and may be tiring of the sham. He's warned off going soft. Is there moral strength anywhere capable of facing down the cabal?

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Plot Keywords:

torture | police brutality | wrongful conviction | year in title | third part | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Channel 4 [United Kingdom]

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 November 2009 (France)

Also Known As:

Kipa aduma: 1983

Filming Locations:

Leeds Independent Studio, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Channel Four Film, Lipsync Productions, Revolution Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

[last lines]
BJ: Here is one that got away, and lived to tell the tale. From Karachi Social Club and Griffin Hotel; Wakefield Nick and St. Mary's Hostel; motorways and car parks; parks and toilets; idle rich and unemployed. From shit they sell and shit we buy; from kids with no mums and mums with no kid; from all dead meat to my dead friends. Pubs and clubs; from gutters and stars; local tips and old slag heaps. From badgers, and owls, wolves and swans. Here is a son of Yorkshire. Here is one... ...

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Connections

Follows Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1974 (2009)

User Reviews

The philosophical conclusion

This third part of the mini series presents once more a different genre with this very insightful and philosophical conclusion. The movie is less darker and brutal than the first two ones and talks more about hope than desperation. The movie talks about moral, forgiveness and remorse and presents once more a few new and profound characters.

The movie has three main actors and begins with the fact that another young girl has been kidnapped nine years after the last murder.

The remorseful cop Maurice Jobson, played by the brilliant David Morissey, wants to stop the insanity and begins to question the corruption, the violence and lies within the police. He falls in love with a clairvoyant and wants to save the kidnapped girl with her while his partners try to find a scapegoat for the new crime. He realizes that he has done some mistakes in his life and wants to change. He is now looking for forgiveness, truth and justice.

The second main character is the fat and disillusioned lawyer John Piggott, played in a rather mediocre way by Mark Addy, whose father was one of the corrupt police officers that has been killed in mysterious circumstances, helps after much hesitation the mothers of the two scapegoats that are or have to go to prison for crimes they didn't commit.

The third main character is the young and homosexual BJ, brilliantly played by Robert Sheehan, who has escaped from Torkshire and travels around the country to come back for a last act of vengeance.

All those three characters come together in a grand finale. But before this conclusion, the story meanders back and forth through space and time and creates connections to the first two movies and even new connections beyond that. Those scenes help to create once more some very diversified and profound characters but it is sometimes difficult to follow this pattern and to understand what is happening right now or in the past. There are many flashbacks and changes of space and time in the movie and that makes it less dynamical and intense to watch than the first two ones. The strong point of the movie are the interesting characters and the fact that many points are explained and many questions are answered to that haven't been before.

But I still felt disappointed about the conclusion. It seems too simple to me and I would have liked to have some more original explications, for example concerning the connection of the businessman Dawson to the murders.

Because of the conclusion and less intense atmosphere, this third part is the weakest one of the series in my opinion. But I still gave seven stars because of the interesting characters and the fact that almost everything is explained in the conclusion of the movie. The philosophical style of this movie is very interesting but I preferred the drama style of the second or the first movie that was a great film noir and my favourite part of the series.

All in all, this trilogy is interesting to watch and really presents three different kinds of a movie and creates connections in between them in an interesting way. Artistically, those series are really well done and most of the actors did an amazing job. But there is a lack of suspense in this slow paced series and the criminal investigations are rather boring. It was a good idea to watch the series, but honestly, I wouldn't but it or watch it again for a while.

1974: 7,5 stars 1980: 7 to 7,5 stars 1983: 7 stars