Longford

Lacking any thread to my viewing other than queue management, I keep coming back to a given film’s life on my lists. This one languished on my TiVo “Now Playing” list for more than a year. I recorded it when it was first broadcast on HBO, then deleted it when I realized I am too much of a Sunny Jim to relish serial killer movies (aside from Zodiac), but recorded it again after it won a slew of Emmys. What finally drove me to watch it was a strong recommendation by David Thomson in “Have You Seen ...?” -- his new book of “personal introduction to 1000 films.” (Come to think of it, that’s just what Cinema Salon is as well -- not quite up to a thousand, but getting there.) Anyway, the cast was an attraction as well, with personal favorite Samantha Morton playing convicted child killer Myra Hindley of the infamous Moors Murders in the ’60s, and the always-impressive Jim Broadbent as Lord Longford, the dotty old Labor minister who led a decades-long campaign for her redemption in the face of public odium. There’s also a chilling portrayal of Myra’s partner in crime by Andy Serkis, much scarier than his Golem. I’m not familiar with director Tom Hooper, more than competent here, but I’m now on the lookout for anything by writer Peter Morgan, of The Queen and other recent inquiries into the public life of Britain. This film lets no one off easy, least of all the viewer, in its exploration of guilt and forgiveness, evil and the possibility of conversion. It’s really better not to know too much about the facts of the case, nor to have formed an opinion, because the strength of this film is the way it leaves questions open, and infinitely ponderable. (2006, HBO/T, n.) *7* (MC-88.)