Review by Brad Balfour, Arts Editor
Film: “Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man”
Director: Tom Harper
Writer: Stephen Knight
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Rebecca Ferguson, Barry Keoghan, Stephen Graham, Ada Thorne, Tim Roth, Ashbourne Serkis, Ned Dennehy, Packy Lee, Bonnie Stott
A few years after the sixth season of the British TV “Peaky Blinders” series concluded, its cinematic extension –– “Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man” –– kicks off with footage of concentration camp inmates producing counterfeit pound notes. This fake currency is intended for distribution in England to ruin its economy and bring down the government. The project is headed by English traitor John Beckett (Tim Roth) who swears his allegiance to the Führer, Adolf Hitler, and leaves for England to ensure that the illicit banknotes get distributed by Britain’s criminal underground.
Coinciding with this, the scene is set in the English city of Birmingham circa 1940. As the chaos of WWII churns along, a weapons factory producing munitions around the clock is hit by a late-night raid. Most of the women working there are killed.
While people scramble to find survivors, or at least the remains of those killed, Duke Shelby (Barry Keoghan) comes along with his gang cadre. They make off with cases of guns and more, claiming authorization from the local constabulary. Shelby now heads Peaky Blinders — the local Irish mafia — in the vacuum left by the absence of his dad, Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy). While Duke is merely a young ruthless shadow of his father whose guidance he lacks, the gang follows him due to the lack of other leadership.
Tommy, meanwhile, has hidden himself away in a cold, empty mansion in the countryside. There, he must face his demons: the consequences of various acts committed while intoxicated or under the emotional pressure of leading a criminal organization evolving into a legitimate enterprise. He must choose to confront his legacy or burn it to the ground. While grappling with that, he continues to write his memoir –– “The Immortal Man.”
With the future of his family and the country at stake, Tommy is driven out of his self-imposed exile to face his most consequential reckoning yet. Instead of pursuing a destructive course by avoiding the assault on his organization, he returns to cope with the Nazis and his son’s potential betrayal of the family and the country. Ultimately, Tommy proves to be more patriotic than greedy. He realizes that he must have something to stand for beyond just his own financial aggrandizement.
On the one hand, this film is an extension of the successful six seasons even with a gap of several years. On the other, the story is straightforward enough that it can be appreciated on its own terms. It’s a simple story of the Nazis versus Irish gangsters. But with the introduction of Kaulo and Zelda, Gypsy identical twins (Rebecca Ferguson), one of them had given birth to Duke before she dies. The film really takes off when the living sister confronts Tommy, urging him to do the right thing.
The movie is about the new generation of Peaky Blinders arriving and how the older generation will end. Although it doesn’t answer all the questions one might have, the film offers a satisfying conclusion for Tommy Shelby. He leaves a legacy and thanks to Murphy’s fine, restrained acting, much character development is achieved in the short amount of time of a two-hour feature. Keoghan is the ideal actor to slot in here as the younger Shelby. There’s enough craze and yet, a tenderness to make him believable.
The movie is enjoyable throughout, featuring gripping scenes from the start with nods to iconic historical figures. In fact, the film is based on several true elements including the Birmingham factory bombing. In addition, the soundtrack is great using contemporary music rather than period sounds, suggesting a timelessness of the narrative.
In many ways, the story comes straight out of a classic Greek tragedy where Tommy suffers the consequences of his evil ways. At the end, it’s hoped that his son is so moved that he will learn not to make the same mistakes as his dad. The film is a well-thought-out production. Thanks to creator Stephen Knight’s script, it moves along smoothly without being too long. You don’t have to be a die-hard Peaky Blinders fan to love the movie, but it will provoke enough interest to binge the series if only to fill in some of the gaps that the film can’t or won’t address.