This is How Movies Should Be Made

recommended

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

I had high hopes when I saw the cast. But eventually it was tiring to watch. At first it was heart-warming to see people gather to do something good and that they stay united. Nevertheless, I do not like stupidity and pathology. Therefore I understood the feelings of betrayal and hostility towards the "mom" character. She fully presented a dumb woman, destroyed by her life choices (her family was mentioned as a non-pathological), leaving no doubt what sort of human-being she really is. I was sorry for the children, I felt claustrophobic by the number of people coming and going through the neighbours' houses and I felt depressed after watching the series. I don't understand how it can be hinted that if a person had bad life ( because she has no moral compass and likes to give birth to children aparently) she can be rid of responsibility... Stupidity is not an excuse.

This drama is about the kidnapping and false imprisonment of Shannon Matthews in West Yorkshire in 2008. This bizarrely has Shannon's mother Karen's friend as the protagonist. It centres on the search to find Shannon, rather than on the crime. There's nowhere near enough about Karen (who isn't shown saying or doing much), or her partner's uncle (who kidnapped and held Shannon). There's no depiction of the kidnapping or the planning of it - and Shannon isn't shown at all. That means that the viewer doesn't know much about what happened, or how heavily involved Karen was.

Found this disappointing. It told the story from mostly From Karen Matthews friend, Julie's viewpoint. It didn't tell us anything new from what was reported at the time. It didn't show much of the police investigation. The ending felt like an afterthought. Trying to make excuses for what she did and suggesting it was everyone else fault than her own. I did agree that in all honesty she wasn't evil just misguided and was overwhelmed by what happened. While she wanted and enjoyed the attention, once the estate was involved it was hard to find a way out.However it did not ever really show her in a bad light or confirm she was involved. It also didn't show how the estate felt about being lied too when they were so passionate about finding the girl.It was acted well but it didn't tell us anything you can't read about on the internet. It also seemed to be saying that if you are poor then you can't be held responsible for your actions. The estate was also shown as all wonderful people. I have worked for Kirklees Council in Dewsbury on a number of occasions. While there are some lovely people there, some people are really awful. A shame this was so much of a lecture and waste of a decent cast.

The Moorside tells the story of the staged abduction of Shannon Matthews from the viewpoint of Julie Bushby, the person who led the community effort to find the 9 year old Dewsbury schoolgirl. As she tells the press: 'When chips are down and one of us has a problem, we are all there to help, we stand shoulder to shoulder with one another, we will never give up hope'The rallying cry felt hollow in this docudrama as we knew Shannon's mother was involved in this bizarre abduction. Even when Shannon went missing, there was an outcry that people living in council estates did not merit the sensitive media attention that the parents of Madeline McCann had got a year earlier.The first episode focuses on Karen Matthews and her dysfunctional family. She had children from several men, her present partner seems to be more interested in surfing the internet. Some of the other relatives crave the media attention. Karen herself comes across as dimwitted and maybe even manipulative as well. Suspicions are aroused early when she starts dancing to a ringtone of a mobile phone.By the end of the first episode, Shannon is found under the bed of Karen's boyfriend's uncle. A cack-handed stunt to get money from the media it seems.In the second episode the police now turn their attention towards Karen. Her friends and neighbours who rallied for her now have doubts about her story. The community now vilify Karen Matthews but Julie Bushby saw her as weak, a symptom of a broken Britain where too many women from an early age were let down by men. In the drama Julie and one of Karen's neighbour talk about how both were sexually abused as youngsters.The drama was strongly acted by the leads, Gemma Whelan, Sian Brooke and Sheridan Smith but I felt it still lacked freshness, too much about it that delved on 'council house scum.' I can imagine that wounds are still raw in parts of Dewsbury and although we do not see the character of Shannon, I could not help thinking that this drama did not do her much good given she is now 18 years old.