Two dysfunctional girls, Shelly and Rachel, from very different backgrounds meet and set off on a course that will have profound implications for both of them. One will be shatter and the other reborn.
There are no easy answers in Walsh's heartbreaking look at life in Britain's lower class... In sharp contrast to Shelly's bleak life, Walsh's powerful coming-of-age tale is beautifully, dreamily shot.
The Violators doesn't break any new ground in its depiction of the downtrodden... but the actresses are finds who may have bright futures and it's sensitively directed by first time filmmaker Helen Walsh.
The young leads are excellent ... as is first-time cinematographer Tobin Jones, who eschews the grimy greys of traditional northern realism to capture the everyday locales in plangently living colour.
