The Offence

This harrowing and psychologically disturbing drama feels like a never-ending nightmare out of a Kafka novel. That said, despite the fact that it does not let up it takes a considerable time, nigh on 45 minutes.

Sean Connery plays Detective-Sergeant Johnson, a man who has been in the force just a little bit too long. His current case involves a series of attacks and murders perpetrated on local schoolgirls, and in the revealing opening scene Johnson finds himself interrogating a suspect. Rewind and we see Johnson and various other police officers observing a nearby school which is under surveillance. A number of school girls have been sexually assaulted and the boys in blue are on the hunt when another girl appears to have been abducted… almost under their noses! Johnson himself finds the girl alive in the undergrowth and accompanies her in the ambulance. Panic ensues and the offender must be found! An incensed Johnson goes out on his own looking for the culprit, while at the same time two officers take in a man who has been walking along the streets in a disturbed and dishevelled state. The man in question is unable to explain himself satisfactory. Back at the police station, Johnson decides that the detained man, Kenneth Baxter (Ian Bannen), for reasons best known to himself, is the guilty party. During the ensuing interrogation, Baxter uncovers certain truths about Johnson that he himself has been afraid to come to terms with and by doing so, pushes him over the edge…

The bleakly textured hues and the dull late 60s architecture only emphasise the grim tone of the film throughout. The pace is agonisingly slow though it isn’t altogether clear whether this was the intention of director Lumet.
The four central characters all deliver good and solid performances, Ian Bannen in particular gives a penetrating performance as the suspected child molester who may or may not be guilty but manages to turn the table on his oppressor, albeit at a very high cost.

Screenwriter John Hopkins is perhaps best known for his contribution to the popular 60’s TV-cop series Z-Cars. When he wrote the stage play ‘This Story Of Yours’, Connery was so impressed that he optioned it for a film under the initial working title Something Like The Truth, and finally to be directed by Sidney Lumet. In effect we have the director and Messrs. Connery and Bannen reprising something like their 1965 success The Hill.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
• New 1080p presentation of the film on the Blu-ray
• Optional English SDH for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Optional isolated music and effects track
• Video interview with stage director Christopher Morahan
• Video interview with assistant art director Chris Burke
• Video interview with costume designer Evangeline Harrison
• Video interview with composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle
• Original theatrical trailer