Bronson – 2008 | 92 mins | Drama | Colour

Plot Synopsis

This loose biopic of Michael Peterson aka Charles Bronson was intended as a scathing indictment of celebrity culture but the end result is a morally suspect and stylised portrait of a violent criminal. Director Nicolas Winding Refn received little assistance from Peterson so much of the film is surreal fantasy sequences to contrast the harshness of the main character. Tom Hardy’s excellent over-the-top portrayal of Bronson’s moustached bravura alone makes this picture worth seeing. Unfortunately the film never gets under the skin of Bronson and his motivation and omits facets of his life including the Muslim woman he married in jail, his conversion to Islam and subsequent renouncement and the awards he won for his art and poetry.

In 1974, misguided small-time Luton crook Michael Peterson decided he wanted to make a name for himself and so, with a homemade sawn-off shot gun and a head full of dreams he attempted to rob a Post Office. He was sentenced to 7 years in jail for armed robbery, but has subsequently served 34 years, 30 of which have been spent in solitary confinement. During a brief spell on parole, Peterson channelled his energies into the bare-knuckle boxing, and following his manager’s suggestion of a change in name, gradually he metamorphosed into ‘Charles Bronson’, his superstar alter ego dubbed Britain’s most violent prisoner by the media. Bronson became a serial hostage taker and violent inmate who spent his life being moved from one institution to another serving a discretionary life sentence.