The film, set in 1999, is a version of a novel from the seventies about a young man from Hammersmith's London Irish Community, Christy Malry who decides to live his life according to the principles of double entry bookkeeping. For every debit he exacts a credit or recompense. This starts as means to avenge dismissive or rude workmates but evolves into being against society, the more credit owed to him the more extreme his means become. This is against a backdrop of news of America and Britain bombing Iraq. Eventually Christy starts making the news.
In a parallel plot we see the life of the monk, Pacioli who invented double entry bookkeeping in renaissance Italy (we are witnessing the birth of capitalism as we know it) and his dealings with his patrons and Leonardo Da Vinci. It illustrates the death of the old system of religious patronage and new system where everything (including loyalty) has a price.
This is an unusual, intensely gripping story, superbly acted by the entire cast, although Nick Moran as Christy and Shirley-Anne Field as his cancer-ridden mother deserve a particular mention. The unsettling atmosphere is supplied through the superb direction of Paul Tickell and an evocative score by Luke Haines.
A world-beating independent film to go and see. Ten out of ten.
