Dirty God

Jade (Vicky Knight) is released from the hospital after suffering terrible burns by her baby daddy. She struggles to renew her life. She cannot accept her scars as permanent. She is desperate to get plastic surgery. She saves up the money to pay for treatment in a Moroccan clinic.

This is my second movie with director Sacha Polak and Vicky Knight. Obviously, Vicky's look is very unique. She's a good actress, but her looks limit her roles. It's too bad. As her first feature, she really shows compelling work. This is missing the inciting incident. Unlike her second movie, it is more egregious since it could have been a simple acid attack. All in all, this is a terrific introduction.

Built around a caustic, corrosive culture and society - British film, storytelling, at its most powerful and thought provoking best. Great performances all round, especially from the outstanding Vicky Knight, whose character resists letting her appearance define her, bravely trying to be a a regular teenager and forging her own path in the world, albeit with minimal help and support.

This film really hits home as it gets inside the head of the main character and takes us on a rollercoaster emotional experience. We are never quite sure where the film is heading, it really works on a more docu-drama level than any film I have watched since "Amores Perros". It has a very gritty approach to British subculture and the only violence occuring has preceeded the start of the film. Casting an actual burned actress in the main roll adds a dynamic that would be hard to achieve otherwise. Acting is first class, the film never lets up and really has neither a good or bad ending, it is just what it is - a snapshot of a beautiful young girl tragically maimed and trying to come to terms with a future, any future.

Vicky Knight does a good job here making you feel what it is like to literally lose your face. Screenplay and direction help her to create a character, that maintains its dark sides even when everything is ready for pure compassion. Not on the light side, but worth watching.

When a beautiful young woman has acid thrown in her face, what does it do to her sense of self? This is the key question in this intoxicating 21st century London drama.

The film is reminiscent of Andrea Arnold's work. All the scars (literally) are laid bare. This is no redemptive story but Jade does grow. And the journey is moving and cathartic.