Revenger's Tragedy

'Get Carter' is positively Jacobean in its relentless drive towards tragedy, death, destruction: it's one of the grimmest and most nihilistic films ever made. The desire for revenge is, of course, a basic human tenet, although few people ever seriously act upon it, but Jack Carter is not most people: he's a dead eyed killer, a relentless destroyer who goes back to his native North East to avenge his brother's death, not out of love and grief, not even out of pride, but because it's what he does, the only thing approaching an emotional response he has. He later experiences a sense of shame at the life he is involved in, and the damage it causes, but it only hardens his resolve to wipe out those he feels responsible. 

It's a great film, but don't expect to feel good as you're watching it. Everything about it is depressing, from the sheer pointless brutality of Carter's quest to the dirty new concrete and nicotine coloured plaster of the mise en scene. I couldn't say it was a favourite film, but it's certainly one I think about quite a lot.