P!ERREP0!NT PART2

Timothy Spall stars in a biopic of Britain's best-known 20th century executioner
Like Vera Drake, Pierrepoint takes place in a mid-20th century Britain where colour was not permitted: everything is drab, brown and municipal green. But whereas the character Vera Drake was providing humane, efficient abortions in a time when it was illegal, Albert Pierrepoint - a real historical figure - is providing a very different sort of termination; executing prisoners.

Pierrepoint is a fascinating portrait of a man trying to maintain a decent, ordinary life while presiding over legally sanctioned death. We first meet Albert (Spall) being talked through the execution procedure at London's Pentonville Prison in 1932. Shortly afterwards, Pierrepoint, a grocery delivery man, receives a letter at his home in Oldham, Lancashire. He's been accepted onto "the list" to become an executioner, following in the footsteps of both his father and uncle. "It's just in me. I knew it'd come out one day," he tells his mother.

While continuing his day job in groceries and marrying local shopgirl Annie (Stevenson), Albert goes about his new work with professionalism, eager to prove himself, to better both his father and his peers. He soon breaks records and rises to become Britain's number one executioner. "I do try to take a pride in my work. I don't believe there's a quicker man on the list," he says.

He gets a further ego boost after the Second World War when he's selected by the Army to handle the execution of those convicted of war crimes. Monty (Francis) himself tells him, "I want the world to know our executions are the most efficient and the most humane." But in Germany, Albert is faced with huge batches of executions. Can he maintain his professionalism, and his mental wellbeing, in the face of such a production line of killing? For the most part, Albert seems a very ordinary man, albeit a quiet, repressed one. He only loses his cool when the system breaks down - when he's hanging 13 Nazis on the 13th day of the month and they run out of coffins. The worst breakdown in the system comes when he's exposed in the press. "It's not right," he says of becoming a celebrity of sorts. Of course, at the same time, the anti-capital punishment movement was gathering momentum. All these elements combine in a film that looks both at the man himself and at Britain at a turning point in its attitude towards law and human life.

Shergold's film, co-written and executive produced by Jeff Pope, is ultimately unequivocal about its attitude towards capital punishment, closing with a quote from the real Pierrepoint. "Capital punishment achieved nothing except revenge". However, it's not a dogmatic or heavy-handed film, thanks in part to an excellent performance from Spall. It's a turn that ranks among the actor's best work, as he ably handles the difficult challenge of keeping Pierrepoint credible as both an ordinary man and a professional killer. It's a hard act given how alien capital punishment seems several decades after its abolition in the UK.

Cutting back and forth between prison, the holding cell, the gallows, home and the pub (where he does a double-act with his ill-fated best friend, played by Vera Drake star Marsden), the film emphasises that capital punishment can't be dissociated from ordinary life, in the same way that ultimately Albert can't detach himself from his acts.

His rhetoric was, "When I walk into the cell, I leave Albert Pierrepoint behind," but how possible is it to totally suppress a sense of involvement and responsibility from something as grim and drastic as ending someone's life? The film subtly suggests we're all subject to the moral consequences of such killing; a society can't detach itself from acts its legal and social systems condone.

Some may suggest the film, made by Granada, is more suited to a small screen. But visually it's very like Vera Drake, with a lot of interiors, and cropped exteriors. And like Vera Drake, it isn't a barrel of laughs, but it's excellent cinematic drama nonetheless.

Category:

Film & Animation

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• FLM

[I12BPhil]

Because no one should ever die. We should all live forever! ABOLISH DEATH!!! Make it illegal to DIE!! Punishable BY DEATH!!!

[skylarkman2000]

A very moving film .

[meurig26846]

GEORGE KELLY MOST CERTAINALLY DID NOT ADMIT TO ANYTHING ---AND DEVLIN AND BURNS WERE IN MANCHESTER AT THE TIME OF THE MURDER,BERT BALMER WAS IN CHARGE OF BOTH INVESTIGATIONS----MMMMMM

[type42sheff]

Glad we abolished this . Harry allen the last english hangman. In his notes after a hanging he wrote " could have done with a longer drop " !!!!!!!

[er10b]

'how possible is it to totally suppress a sense of involvement and responsibility from something as grim and drastic as ending someone's life'

It isn't possible. If I was a hangman I don't think I'd last more than a week in said job, I'd either resign or end up committing suicide.

[ajuk1]

@DOUG120669 Enough of the caps.

[DOUG120669]

AS FOR BENTLY,AGAIN,GUILTY UNDER UK LAW AS IT STOOD AT THE TIME,BOTH WERE ARRESTED WHILE COMMITING THE SAME CRIME,ERGO,BENTLY WAS GUILTY IN LAW,SIMILAR TO THE CASE OF GOWER/REDEL,GOWER WAS FREE AND RUNNING,REDEL SHOT A MAN,BOTH WERE HANGED AT WINCHESTER A FEW YEARS BEFORE BENTLY,CAPITAL PUNISHMENT SHOULD NOT DIFFER BECAUSE A CHILD WAS MURDERED,A LIFE IS A LIFE,NONE MORE VALUABLE THAN ANY OTHER,MURDER IS MURDER IS MURDER NO MATTER THE VICTIMS AGE OR SOCIAL STANDING

[DOUG120669]

RE RUTH ELLIS,SHE WAS NOT INNOCENT,SHE TOOK A GUN AND IN AN ACT OF PRE MEDITATION,MURDERED HER BOYFRIEND,DNA TAKEN FROM THE GRAVE OF JAMES HANRATTY SUGGESTS HE WASNT INNOCENT EITHER,ONLY 3 EXECUTED CRIMINALS HAVE EVER BEEN GIVEN A POSTHUMOUS PARDON FROM THOUSANDS EXECUTED,SO MEURIG,GIMME SOME MORE "INNOCENT VICTIMS" OF THE HANGMAN,BTW GEORGE KELLY ADMITTED THE SHOOTINGS BUT CLAIMED SELF DEFENCE,A COMMON ARGUMENT TO AVOID THE GALLOWS,SO AGAIN,NOT ENTIRELY INNOCENT,WAS HE?

[meurig26846]

I agree, the police put a lot of innocent people on the gallows usually just to clear the case quickly and/or to make themselves look good------they did'nt care a damn whether the person on the trapdoor was guilty or not----(Devlin and Burns,George Kelly,both Liverpool early1950s,Timothy Evans,Derek Bentley,Ruth Ellis ,James Hanratty----BUT---There were some who should most definately have been executed .ie child murderers, terrorists etc----people like these forefeited their right to live

[meurig26846]

So did the people who were murdered

[ozzyboi86]

@meurig26846 and anyone whos pro capital punishment please think about the family of Derek Bentley or the case of Timothy Evans, obviously murder is wrong in every sense but two wrongs dont make a right, condemed men and women have innocent families too.

[Factnotfictionpeople]

@athame57 Dramatic effect I suppose.....or bad research!