"Made in Britain" is a 1982 made-for-British-TV movie that stars Tim Roth as "Trevor", a 16 year old-ish skinhead who is in constant trouble with the law.
I had, wrongly, assumed that Roth's role as "Myron" in the excellent "The Hit" in 1984 was his breakthrough star turn. How wrong I was. His "Trevor" in "Made in Britain" is a tour-de-force and is what lead to every door opening in the industry for him. It's on par with, say, Ben Kingsley's performance as "Don" in "Sexy Beast", a role that just speaks raw energy. The most frightening thing about Tim Roth's portrayal of "Trevor" are the little speeches and rants he gives throughout the movie about his philosophy of racism. Frightening because through sheer will he starts to convince you that maybe -- just maybe -- there is some logic or rational behind his hate. A sign of great screenwriting combined with an actor that can deliver the goods is what makes this a great picture. "My son the fanatic" is a British movie that, in a sense, parallels "Mona Lisa". Both main protagonists are drivers of hookers. In this one, the Indian actor Om Puri plays a Muslim taxi driver in Northern England who becomes close to a hooker who he ends up protecting and loving. But he's got a wife and young adult son at home, a son who has abandoned his beautiful English girlfriend for the fanaticism of Islam. Yet his father is a lover of life and people who can't stomach religious fanaticism. The movie show how the father deals with the son and demonstrates who, truly, is God-like and is respectful of all people. I've probably seen Om Puri in bit parts in movies through the years but here he gives the performance of a lifetime: natural and convincing about a man of conviction who came to Britain from Pakistan to better his life and that of his family only to see his only child revert back to the nutcases he left Pakistan to get away from.
