Does anybody feel disgusted and disturbed by the greenhouse scene in the film "Scum"?

Question

And the scene in Pulp fiction when the black guy is tied up, you know which one.

Answer 1

It's good that stuff like that disturbs you ... but don't forget that stuff like that happens all the time in the real world ... be thankful that you're only seeing it in movies where you know it's all fake ... spare a thought to those boys in institutions that are actually bullied and assaulted like that everyday

Answer 2

Scum Greenhouse Scene

Answer 3

Sure, it's disturbing, but no more so then watching news about war victims, and poverty and famine across the world.
These are all things that really happen in the world, and in prisons and borstals alike, prisons do get raped. In no way am i advocating this kind of thing, but in a gritty movie like Scum, scenes like these are used to show just how bad a place it can be.

I don't think there was so much call for it in Pulp Fiction however, but that's Tarantino for ya. Still Ving got his payback on them, and i found it all a little light hearted, especially compared to Scum.

If this kind of thing offends you, i strongly advise you never watch Irreversible, as this film is about as graphic a rape scene as i have ever seen, as well as being about the most gritty, but it is still a very good movie, if you take it for what it is.

Answer 4

Yes, of course. Have to be pretty insensitive not to find it so. In fact it was because of that scene that BBC banned the film. Alan Clarke (the late great director THE FIRM, CONTACT, MADE IN BRITAIN) re shot the entire film frame by frame and managed to get it released at the cinema. Only cast change being ARCHER played by Mick Ford in the film and David Threfall for TV. Released as a double Bill with QUADROPHENIA.... QUADROPHENIA- A WAY OF LIFE SCUM- A FACT OF LIVE being the tag line. Also the opening shot, a seemingly innocent young man sitting on a bus till the camera pans down to show handcuffs is a homage to the 60's film THE LONELINESS OFA LONG DISTANCE RUNNER starring tom Courtney- another Borstal film, and though not as traumatic an experience as SCUM, equally as powerful.

Answer 5

Hi Yasmine - Ive not watched Scum, and the one time I watched Pulp Fiction, well yes, THAT scene disturbed me the most and I havent watched it since. I appreciate this sort of thing happens but I watch films for the escapism, getting away from the horrible side of life, so only watch comedies and love stories. While I remember, Hollyoaks had a male rape episode, shown after hours, and that was another one that really disturbed me. bxx

Answer 6

Damn, Yasmin...that's going back a bit (1978). Scum - about borstal life was meant to throw us that way...disgust, disturbance etc. I felt even more sickened when the boy who was raped in the greenhouse committed suicide.
Borstal life in the seventies apparently was like that...fresh faced, and on the whole intelligent and well-behaved boys who thought it would be good to smash a couple of windows on a night out in town because they saw punk rockers doing it on telly the night before - and the next thing, they've been given a spell in Borstal, and find out they're as much a punk rocker as Margaret Thatcher was, when the see the real hard faces and hate-all young men doing what they liked to the 'virgins' of locked-up life.
As disgusted as people are supposed to have been by the Scum scene, it was there also to make them understand about the retributional practises of the law in the seventies. Every young man past the age of 16 who 'misbehaved' was either sent to Detention Centres...six week short-sharp-shocks (as they were known), or Borstal, which ranged from six months to two years, depending on ones' behaviour.
The law didn't care too much on young mens' life before their first offences - just 'get 'em in', hence ultimately fearful boys mixing with young men who has gone through the mill and feared nobody...who are now perhaps grandfathers in the early years of the 21st century.
More asbo, anybody?

Answer 7

I did at the time I watched it (some 17 years ago), but not anymore. Nothing in human nature surprises me anymore. Think of the most twisted and warped thing you can, then add some, then think there is probably someone somewhere doing it right now. Perhaps the most disturbing film I have seen recently was "Ichi the Killer", some pretty cruel rape and torture scenes. Give it a try :OD, but with friends in the middle of the day

Answer 8

I think the film "scum" should be showed in schools across the nation. ITs disturbing yeah, but it happens in real life. If you dont beleive me then you are a example of a nieve person. Children should be made to realise what COULD happen to them if they choose the wrong path. It would do a lot of good to those who's parents dont have a clue and spoil them so they grow up to act like immature no it alls.

I reckon that film is so wicked though.

Answer 9

Scum is a disturbing film, but i think thats what it was meant to do disturb people. Its like the film Sleepers - its a true depiction of what life like in correctional facilities was/is like. I think that if this was shown to kids in school (someone mentioned in a previous answer) it would not help them at all. Because as much that its disturbing it glorifys it too.

Answer 10

That rape scene stayed with me for years as I saw Scum years ago but the Pulp Fiction one didn't affect me so bad cos I've seen worse...ie.Scum !!!!