By Omeleto
.
.
After a troubled past, Michael is on the brink of a fresh start in life. Years ago, he was part of a juvenile neighborhood gang that bullied a disabled girl and her desperate mother to the point of tragedy. Now as a grown man, he has the first real relationship of his life and a stable job in a town where no one knows him.
When an event commemorating the past tragedy puts his name back in the news, he must scramble to keep his past hidden and his new life safe. But the decisions and actions of his former life prove more persistent than he thought, as do the difficult emotions around it.
Directed by Oliver Goodrum from a script co-written with Alexander Craig, this raw, powerful short drama is a compelling character portrait of a man who is unable to escape the past. A former bully whose actions led to the horrific suicides of those he bullied, he has tried to forget the past and move forward with a hopeful new life. But the film asks morally complicated questions of what it means to atone for the past, and whether redemption is possible in the face of such heinous actions.
The film is a sequel to Goodrum’s highly successful short “This Is Vanity” from 2012. And like its predecessor, it possesses a striking and potent set of visuals, weaving a washed-out naturalism with propulsive camerawork and haunting images. But “Iniquity” works as a standalone story, with the writing structuring for uninitiated viewers a kind of puzzle that mirrors Michael’s confrontation with the enormity of his past. He has a growing tenderness and trust in his first real relationship and has built an ordinary but solid life for himself. And in these scenes, he has decency and even vulnerability.
But as a remembrance vigil is planned and a journalist hoping for a follow-up to the original tragedy begins to intrude upon the carefully protected borders of Michael’s new life, Michael’s life begins to fray as he confronts the enormity of his past transgressions. Pressures mount, both from the increasingly invasive online media and from home, in the form of his imposing, domineering brother. We get glimmers of why Michael perhaps became a bully in his youth; we also see the glimpses of the past intruding in his dreams and waking thoughts.
Actor Richard Crehan (who played the same character in This Is Vanity) captures Michael’s growing unraveling with an unvarnished intensity, in a compelling, remarkable performance that speaks to both the man trying to keep his hard-won life together and the boy who lashed out in violence and terror. Ultimately Michael is a man divided from himself, having sequestered his past from his present. He is suffused with regret, but in the film’s explosive ending, he finds himself in a full circle of sorts — a Möbius strip he himself began as a persecutor, only to find himself on the other side of the loop.
Gripping and thought-provoking, the ending of “Iniquity” finds Michael getting a glimmer of what he wrought all those years ago in a sequence that’s almost like a Greek tragedy in its pitiless symmetry. Perhaps some will see it as justice; others might frame it as genuine remorse. It will leave nearly all shaken at the end and pondering the nature of redemption and justice, and just what it means for Michael and others like him.
Transcript provided by YouTube:
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
hmm
what’s the matter for you hmm no i’m all
right
i’m just thinking about
maybe we should get the same tattoo in
the same
okay just don’t show her the title okay
think about this new craze on tick tock
everyone’s talking about it is it a bit
much the young people just become
focused
all right michael i need you to
concentrate okay let’s go let’s go
okay all right
if you wanna see it
you wanna go outside
next up janet hurst here to talk about
the vigil she’s organizing to mark the
10th anniversary of the tragedy
make my [ __ ] mess
nailed to the front door
so i’m gonna be here every night
i know that’s not what you were talking
about during the [ __ ] day what i hear
you people were up to me i’d have
someone here every ev every day
coming around
what the [ __ ]
all right
everybody’s moved on
with respect michael they haven’t
bothered that’s what we’re michael your
side
i’m hearing out from you
people have an opinion of you michael
yeah that’s your legacy that it’s up to
you to change it man hey
see you later
prick
selfish
[Music]
[Music]
okay
all right then
yeah okay bye
there you go
it’s [ __ ] [ __ ]
no don’t be such a big
girl you look
as well
good
[Music]
all right
i’m all this
don’t run the article
i read the last one and
are a yob i thought of [ __ ] i’ve
never
wrote now like that
not that person anymore
but i get it
forever love forever up
get it
i can’t stay here another 10 years
please
ain’t it time to be forgotten
it is
cool
it wasn’t just an accident was it
you harassed them for years i never put
them in that car
if michael shaw never says a word to
tyler
never says a word to angela
does any of it ever happen
no one’s seeing that you actually
do get it
talk to me about it it’s not gonna
[ __ ] change anything it might change
no
you’ve seen the house
all them comments online this [ __ ]
vigil you know they just
want
some sort of recognition
he said she was waiting all day and it’s
not on system it was not the van either
that’s all i know
lost deliveries come at your end
it can’t be lost if it wasn’t there in
the first place can it
don’t mess this up
you don’t get chaunces michael don’t
mess this up
sorry
come on let’s go let’s go come on
come on let’s go
are you okay i’m fine
all right
get your hands up let’s go
it’s a very tragic story yeah um after a
campaign of harassment by local teens
angelo took her daughter tyler into her
car and sat night to them both
you talked about this campaign of
harassment was there any individuals who
was the worst
i live with mom and i live with my nana
can you do all for that
yeah probably
see that’s great you’re good of course i
love from mama yeah well i taught your
mum everything she needs to know
[Applause]
are you okay
[Music]
that’s it michael come on
you’re a man now yeah jesus
so he
says do something to change the course
of someone’s life
you
do not think i’ve had enough of this
it’s got nothing to do with you nothing
to do with me it’s quite a street
i’m sorry about the interview but you
won’t mention my name i don’t have to be
do i come on pal back off all right
you’re making it worse how can we make
it any worse
move along leave us alone
[Music]
i could go on this
what would your special skill be sitting
in the corner with a cone on your head
a new bird must have 51 cents
what are you doing here hey
based on this year some kickboxie you
live after the gym did it what do you
mean it didn’t happen at [ __ ] gym
it wasn’t a [ __ ] gym it was it then
hey who [ __ ] was it
craig okay who was it that [ __ ]
journal was doing want it hey not lp
do you want to spend another 10 years
living on
another [ __ ] 10 years living at home
you might be a fanny but you’re not a
[ __ ] mug are you hey
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
right
go time
[Music]
[ __ ] do it
[Music]
yes
[ __ ] look
[Music]
look have you got a minute
i want to transfer down sam you’re okay
yeah i’m fine look is there anything i
go on
there’s going to be another article
there isn’t going to be another article
because i
i’ve spoke to him
and he’s not gonna run anything we knew
going into this that something like that
could happen oh come on our name is
everywhere company can’t be seen to be
[Music]
um
[Music]
macarena
he’s been here all day
[Music]
i will be back in town okay
what the [ __ ] is that
it’s fine what’s happening with you
if you’re not happy with me it’s okay
we are normally here so it’s fine
you don’t mess us around you understand
that
no longer
see
you know you can tell me everything
yes you can
look at me
if you want this to work i need to talk
what
stop moving man stop moving
[ __ ]
you’ll get beautiful
i should not say you’re gonna get
bloodborne
it looks beautiful and we are done
picasso has finished his artwork but
that’s the [ __ ] mona lisa bro have a
look at that
are you [ __ ] with it yeah yeah
take a picture picture yeah
get my lads on the street for life yeah
ah come on come on
[Music]
uh
oh
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
shouldn’t do better than nostalgia
you [ __ ] us you know
just as much as you
so you can just swan off with your new
bird
see what’s behind
i’ll never let it happen
okay
[Music]
[ __ ] idiots
come on sit
down cup of tea
oh look at the state of view you look
like
sorry
i’ll put the kettle
oh gonna say
i’ll be a minute
[Music]
what the [ __ ] is that in front of the
house
you’re on the street i know you
what’s going on
you can’t trust me
come on
come on
let’s go to my place yes come on yes
[Music]
great
oh
[Music]
never
does any of it ever
[Music]
[Music]
no one’s seen you actually
yes
[Music]
[Music]
oh
wow
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
you
—
This post was previously published on YouTube.
***
You Might Also Like These From The Good Men Project
 |
 |
 |
 |
Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.
A $50 annual membership gives you an all access pass. You can be a part of every call, group, class and community.
A $25 annual membership gives you access to one class, one Social Interest group and our online communities.
A $12 annual membership gives you access to our Friday calls with the publisher, our online community.
Register New Account
Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—
Photo credit: iStock
