Citadel
Director: Ciaran Foy
Writer: Ciaran Foy
Cast: Aneurin Barnard, James Cosmo, Wunmi Mosaku, Jake Wilson, Amy Shiels
Part of: /slash Filmfestival

Plot:
Tommy (Aneurin Barnard) was happily married to Joanne (Amy Shiels). They were expecting a baby and about to move out of a run-down apartment complex when Joanne is murdered by hooded children. This leaves Tommy with a baby and agoraphobia. Months late,. he is barely coping when those children show up again and seem to be coming for his baby.

Citadel started off great – tense, moody and with a wonderful lead. And while Aneurin Barnard stays good through the entirety of the film, the film itself doesn’t, instead descends into a conservative’s nightmare (by that I mean of a conservative, not for a conservative. I’d probably enjoy the hell out of a nightmare for a conservative).

[SPOILERS]

My problem was the resolution of the story. So, the children in the hoodies are not demons or aliens (as I initially suspected) but actual children who have mutated because their parents took drugs, and then a priest slept with a drug addict and the result is the spawn of evil that goes out and kidnaps and infects other children.

And that is basically the way the fearmongering conservative media likes to portray the “youth of today”, especially when coming from difficult backgrounds like parents who are addicted. Take that to an extreme, throw in a misbehaving priest and you got this movie. It will probably fly extremely well with an audience that subscribes to the notion that (other people’s) kids are dangerous, set on seducing and ruining (their own) children, and generally hoodlums. But since I actually like children I found that message extremely disturbing.

Oh, and the way you solve that situation was just the same conservative shit: blow it all up. No “these are sick children, maybe we can find a cure” or whatever. Just blow it all to hell (with a rather disappointing explosion to boot).

It’s just such a waste, especially since it was a really effective and scary film (until the message took over the horror and I became angry rather than scared). The atmosphere is tight and the cinematography is perfect. Saying that it’s beautiful might not be very fitting, but they captured the settings and the story with great images.

And Aneurin Barnard did a great job. His Tommy is believable, even through the least subtle parts of the script, and is probably the number one reason I didn’t fall asleep during the film. Or walk out. Or started screaming insults at the screen as the story pogressed.

Summarising: If you can deal with the conservative message, go ahead. I’ll file it as a waste of potential.