Tom Harper, Pathe (19/03/10)

It was easy to warm to The Scouting Book for Boys, as the film is set in a Norfolk seaside caravan park reminiscent of the ones where I used to holiday as a child. Little seems to have changed for these stalwarts of the British tourist trade. They still appear to be a glorious world of outdoor swimming pools, amusement arcades and sweet, sticky treats purchased from the little gift shop. But then, just as I was basking in a wave of nostalgia the movie took a sharp left into more disturbing territory with which I was, thankfully, far from familiar.

For the two teenage friends at the core of director Tom Harper’s gem of a film, the caravan park is not merely a place to spend a couple of care free weeks a year. It is more like their everyday playground as both have parents who work in and around the campsite. We first see David (Thomas Turgoose) and Emily (Holliday Grainger) running along the caravan rooftops and leaping over the spaces in between in a childhood game which treads that fine line between fun and a potentially crippling injury.

Both the teens are at that awkward age where having a friend of the opposite sex is becoming tricky thanks to the arrival of raging hormones. Emily is the more precocious of the pair and she likes to tease and torment David over his growing but confused attraction to her. Sadly for David, his friend is more interested in the security guard Steve (Rafe Spall) who is not only much older but owns a moped on which Emily can cadge the occasional lift.

The pair’s endless summer looks set to come to an abrupt halt when the girl is informed that she will have to leave the park to live with her estranged father. Shortly after hearing this news Emily disappears. Forty-eight hours later and both park workers and the police are becoming deeply concerned. David though is not worried as he knows that Emily is hiding out in a cave by the beach. With the locals caught up in the search for the missing girl he sneaks off down to the shore with some supplies and a few tips on living alfresco from the survival guide which provides the film’s title.

Back at the site, rumours that Steve was having a relationship with Emily have spread and the innocent man becomes the number one suspect. Small town and ambitious police officer Kertzer (Steven Mackingtosh) hauls him in for questioning. Meanwhile, down in the grotto Emily reveals the truth about her and Steve leaving David wracked with jealousy and resentment. The young boy decides that he wants to have his friend all to himself leading to disastrous consequences.
　
The Scouting Book for Boys was scripted by Jack Thorne, who has also worked on the too cool for grown-ups TV show, Skins. In this new film he has created a more realistic portrait of what it is like to be young. Thorne shows that teenage life can be a time of great joy and discovery but also pain and awkward embarrassment (in one excruciating scene David visits the club where his father runs the karaoke only to find himself pulled up onto the stage and serenaded. The feeling of shame that the young lad experiences is so palpable that you that you pray for Norfolk to be hit by a sudden earthquake so that the ground can swallow him up).

Thomas Turgoose is very well cast as David. Not only can he act but he has retained that air of naturalism and charm which means that the audience cannot help but care about him . Since Shane Meadows picked him from the streets of Grimsby to appear in This is England we have watched young master Turgoose mature with each part. This is perhaps his most challenging role and also his best performance. Mind you, the aptly named Holliday Grainger more than gives him a run for his money.

With both Thorne and Harper coming from a television background, working on the likes of Shameless, they have managed to create a paean to being young but with an edge. Like a spotty adolescent the film gradually undergoes a mood change and becomes more uncomfortable to deal with. With the crowd in the holiday park getting ugly and David possessed by both lust and resentment a happy ending seems unlikely. What actually does happen left me needing a stiff drink. Yet, this denouement was a logical, believable progression from the early part of the story.

As the credits rolled I was again beset by a nostalgia. This time it was for twenty- five or so years ago when there was a string of British films, normally backed by Channel Four, which were thoughtful and challenging dramas that did not always feel the need to leave the audience with a smile on their faces. Perhaps the passage of time has clouded my judgement but it is a commendation of The Scouting Book for Boys that it provoked such memories in me. For a couple of hours the film really took me back and I can thoroughly recommend it.

review: Alan Diment

bfi.org.uk