Kids, Knives & Broken Lives
The press and TV news reports are full of politicians, youth workers, police and journalists pontificating about the epidemic of gun and knife crime on Britain’s streets, but where are the voices of the young people themselves?
This film takes the audience onto the streets of London, Manchester and Bradford to find out what the young men who actually carry guns and knives really think.
Why do so many youths “tool up” these days? How important are notions like territory, respect and revenge? What kind of weapons are being used on our streets on a daily (or nightly) basis? How easy is it to get hold of guns, knives and other lethal tools? What is the most dangerous age to be on the streets, and once you’ve been drawn in to violence and “carrying”, how can you walk away. What impact do knife amnesties and tougher sentences have?
And what solutions do the people at the heart of the problem think might actually make a difference. Looking at Britain’s streets through the eyes of the young people who spend most of their time on those streets, we see an entirely different geography.
A world of perceived sleights and coldly assessed threats, a landscape of no-go areas, a storehouse of easily accessible weaponry.
At times deeply disturbing, but also containing seeds of real hope, this film is an intimate and iconic portrayal of the modern Britain as seen through the eyes of our teenage urban youth.
RUNTIME:
60 Minutes
PRODUCER:
Brian Woods
DIRECTOR:
Jezza Neumann
RELEASED:
2008
Reviews
"In Neumann's quest to hear what the teenagers are saying about their lives, there emerges a pattern that tells of teenagers who increasingly feel the need to arm themselves. "
Clare Dwyer Hogg, Independent
"Neumann and Woods explore why youths who are little more than children would choose to arm themselves against other children...life, it seems, is cheap"
Alison Graham, Radio Times