A few years ago now there was a case where a woman set fire to her own car over towards Leicester, killing herself and her daughter (who had learning difficulties). The conclusion of the inquest was that, surprise, surprise, the system had failed this woman and that the bullying her and her daughter suffered on their estate was largely ignored or information not adequately shared between bodies to ensure action got taken to protect them. This true story is the basis for this film and it really doesn't pull any punches in the telling. Starting with the dramatic headline, this short flashbacks to the bullying and torment suffered by the family and, while it does this very well, it limits itself at the same time.
The focus is on the events and the failures and how terrible these things were and indeed on this film the film is a hard watch, however it must be said that director Goodrum doesn't really handle the material with much in the way of subtlety or finesse but rather just hits the viewer repeatedly with quickly edited scenes of bullying, then system failure, then bullying, then system failure. It is not a particularly good structure and it isn't helped that the specifics also lack detail or finesse but are rather blunt and obvious; for instances the earnestly failing police man is overly earnest while his boss is really strongly dismissive for the purposes of making the point.
This blunt headlong approach is only really offset by a great central performance from Brown as the mother; she is conflicted, struggling, desperate and very natural throughout – while the film may be blunt, her character is not and she deserves credit for doing such good work while Goodrum doesn't appear to have given her much guidance to be delicate. The supporting roles are fine but prone to cliché due to how little time is spent developing as opposed to just stating. It is a powerful story but it is because of it being a true one, a tragic one and one given a human face by Brown – but it works despite Goodrum in my (uneducated) opinion. The film closes with the suggestion of a follow-up although if it is as lacking in positive touches as this film then I'll skip it.