They're like weeds--wiry with thorns. Liam, the protagonist of Ken Loach's new film "Sweet Sixteen," is fifteen and growing without direction in the backyard of life.

Combining elements of coming of age with mob genres and mixing in a bit of social commentary, "Sweet Sixteen" proves to be intelligent and moving.

Liam (Martin Compston) has been left to raise himself. His mother (Michelle Coulter) is serving a prison sentence. Stan (Gary McCormack) who may be his father (or stepfather, I'm not quite sure) and his grandfather are abusive. After refusing to participate in a scheme to smuggle drugs into prison for his mother, Liam is forced to take up residence with his sister Chantelle (Annemarie Fulton), a single mother. The rejection by his grandfather is harsh; Liam returns to his home finding his stuff scattered about on the tiny lawn. The stuff includes a rocket model and various items of clothing. This is not a boy who has been given much to hang his hat on, and amazingly, seeks something other than material possessions. Liam longs for the safety of his mother's touch.

Liam's mother is set to be released from prison soon and Liam has it all mapped out. He will find a place for them to live far away from the abusive Stan. Through a clever series of small time drug transactions, Liam just might achieve his goal. But once you become a part of the mob, you just can't walk away from it.

"Sweet Sixteen" makes good use of the naiveties of youth and the limbo period when a young boy is just becoming a man. The script makes Liam smart, smart enough not to use the drugs he is selling and smart enough to gain the respect of his peers so that he can marshal their support into a criminal enterprise. There is always something innocent about Liam's actions even when they are taken at the behest of a mobster. Liam projects a kind of magnetism that the other boys in his group flock to. His radiance is not only the product of good script-writing here, but a natural performance by Martin Compston (occupying most of the screen time) who isn't the most impressive or fearsome of specimens but, somehow, wins your trust and respect just with an all-knowing glance. He sees the truth, knows how to look and when not to speak.

In one agonizing scene, Liam fights for his "gear" or drug stash when it is stolen from him by force. He sure knows how to take a beating being beaten by those who never bothered to raise him for as long as he can remember. His tenacity is impressive for such a little guy. And he wears his battle scars well, not pausing to worry about the severity of his wounds that will be tended to by his sister later. No wonder the other boys follow him.

I liked the way the film slowly developed Liam's ascent (descent?) to power without making it too glamorous or unbelievable. It is the grass roots making of an empire. One that is short-lived due to Liam's compelling goal (or weakness)--to reunite with and, ultimately, save his addicted mother. Of course, the best-laid plans have a habit of succumbing to Murphy's Rule.

Liam is hampered by his humanity as he attempts to manage those he commands. He cares about those under him, a weakness that may lead to his demise. After some testing, Liam is given a pizza delivery business by a mobster with the intent to use such business as a conduit for drug sales. Have a little smack with your meat lover’s supreme, why don't you? The atmosphere is never too playful or upbeat. The dirty images taken of low income dwellings casts a disturbing downbeat pall over the entire film that is not meant to glorify Liam's success. Director Ken Loach seems aware of the drug lord genre and knows that he must exercise a little restraint. This is not "New Jack City" but something smaller and more real.

The film is set in Scotland and the accents are thick which will be almost indecipherable to American audiences. Early in the film, subtitles help us get into the dialect. After a little while I guess the subtitles disappeared although I never really noticed. Phasing out the subtitles is a good effect and wasn't ever that distracting to me. The subtitles were a little hard to read at times due to the fact that they whizzed by on the screen keeping pace with the actors. I knew that I was in for a potty-mouthed Scottish experience before taking the film in and so should you. These people all have a mastery of the Scottish set of expletives belting them out at will because the characters they play would speak that way.

We have seen films like "Sweet Sixteen" before; Larry Clark's 1995 film "Kids" instantly comes to mind. "Sweet Sixteen" definitely feels as real as "Kids" although the story told in "Sixteen" is a little more linear. I'm always reminded of Luben Omaiski's weird and shocking documentary entitled "Raw Non-Fiction." When kids raise themselves bad things can happen. But I think that Loach is trying to tell us in "Sixteen" that the kids aren't to blame for their actions. At least, not solely to blame. Their impressionable minds are influenced by adults who use children to achieve adult goals. I worried that the mob elements of the film would weaken the story making it more familiar and less original. I think that Loach's intent may have been to use the mob convention to tell us a little about the influence adult misconduct can have on the youth among us. But for the mobsters, well, no spoilers, watch the film for yourself. And, at the same time, watch what you say and do around kids, not only your own, but any kid within earshot.

Jonathan W. Hickman, 2003