Writer-Director Joe Cornish Perhaps best known for the cult hit of 2011 Attack the block. While he is doing other movies at the moment, especially in 2019 The child who will be the kingThey are all far from block attack, With the main similarity is the plot that focuses on underdog children forced to thwart supernatural forces to save their home.
While Attack the block Still as sleek, funny, and exciting as it was when it was released in 2011, a recent viewing made a special point for me. If you haven’t seen it yet Attack the block, Stop reading because there are spoilers ahead. Go see Attack the block And then come back.
What makes ‘Block Attack’ great?
The scene that jumped out at me was when Sam (Jodie Whitaker) down to Moses (John Boyega) apartment to open the gas so they can incinerate aliens when he lures them down there. Earlier in the movie, when all the kids get tools to fight the aliens, the only house we don’t see is Moses, and it’s because Cornish is saving it for this powerful revelation. Sam enters his apartment and does not see adults, and when sad, she sees a bed sheet for a small child. She asked if Moses had a brother, and he said no. She asks him how old he is, and he says “15.”
There is so much to say in just that short scene and Cornish doesn’t have to dwell on it because of how powerful it is. The first thing we realize is that while Moses’ friends may have come from single parent homes, they There are still people in the village waiting and looking after them. As for Moses, he lives with his uncle, “come and go. Go mostly.” Then, by adding that Moses could not bring new bedding or clothing, we see that he living in poverty even lower than his friends. And then the capper is his age.
The living conditions of Moses are more alarming than the aliens
The obvious observation here is that Moses was not an adult. Society may want to treat him as one because of his skin color and his socioeconomic status, but he is a child. He is a child who is forced to steal and is forced to be a leader, not because he wants to, but because he has to survive. That is a great sympathy for the character not because he is cold (although Moses “allowed it”, of course), but because of what he suffered silently.
All alien things in Attack the block Incredibly entertaining, but this scene is the heart of the film. It shows that while these children may come off as young punks in the opening scene, they, and especially Moses, deserve our closer look and sympathy, not because they are fighting aliens, but because their daily life is a struggle. Attack the block It does not ask us to pity Moses, but it asks us to at least understand him and see where he lives, if Just for a while.
