Concrete Jungle

2009, 20 minutes

It’s not the cards that we are dealt that determine our outcome in life but is they way that we play them.

Street crime, gangs and violence is splashed all over the media today. We want to explore the reasons young people are behaving in this manner. In the majority of these cases, the young offenders are brought up on rough council estates in the big cities and it is often argued that these criminals ‘know no better’ – that these criminals were abused and are just living in a vicious circle. One could argue that the world that they live in is very different from the norm and that when they have nothing at all, status and respect is all they can fight for and so they fight for it in the only way that they know. We don’t disagree that these people have got it hard but ultimately, they are individuals who know right from wrong and this cannot be used to excuse their behaviour. People live in poverty or are abused but yet the come out on top. Within our film we will explore this idea through two sisters. Both brought up on a rough estate by an alcoholic mother. Both indulge in the status that they have and get thrills from ensuring no other rivals exceed their power by simply ‘kicking the shit out of them’. When fights lead to deaths, the girls realise that they are trapped in this horrible life and can see no way out. Will they throw in their card and except it or will they play their hands well and win?

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