Red Riding Trilogy

The best word to describe “Red Riding Trilogy” is “epic.” Clocking in at five hours (not including intermissions) the trilogy is emotional, stimulating, beautiful, and haunting. Based on the noir novels by David Peace, “Red Riding” is actually three movies directed by three different directors with three distinct plots, but all of them are connected by central and overarching conflicts.

Set against the backdrop of shocking serial murders in a particularly poor section of England, the films tell the story of the West Yorkshire Constabulary and the corruption that has been eating away at the small police force for ten years. Spanning that decade, the audience is presented with a complex, moving look at this strange little place, the fear of three ruthless serial killers, and the desperation of having literally nowhere to turn in a town so filled with corruption.

In “Red Riding 1974,” there have been a rash of kidnappings in small, impoverished West Yorkshire. Ace reporter Eddie Dunford (Andrew Garfield, in an excellent performance) has made it his mission to get to the bottom of it all, but along the way runs into something much more complex and sinister than a serial killer. John Dawson, (Sean Bean) a prominent business man, has been bribing policemen and officials for years and when a young girl is found dead and brutalized on his land, he is willing to go to any length to keep Dunford from prying.

“Red Riding 1980” begins six years later with the appearance of the Yorkshire Ripper, a serial killer who has been raping, mutilating and murdering prostitutes in Yorkshire for years. The Constabulary has been forced to call in a special team to hunt down this killer, led by Peter Hunter, (Paddy Cobsidine) a cop who has already made enemies in the tight-knit, corrupt West Yorkshire Police force. Digging deeper into the conspiracies discovered by Dunford in 1974, Hunter is met with the same resistance and violence in his attempt to catch the murderer.

In the third film, the year is now 1983 and there has been another kidnapping in West Yorkshire, which is strikingly similar to those of 1974, forcing the police to accept that they may not have apprehended the right man. A washed up public defender John Piggott (Mark Addy) has taken on the case and strikes yet another blow at the white-collar crime that pervades the Police Department.

The plot of all three films leaves something to be desired on occasion. It is a typical noir story and sometimes the heavy-handed conspiracy elements and over-the-top violence become a tad obvious.

For example, the third movie begins with a trip to a psychic who mutters heavy-handed hints to the audience, and any time a female character is introduced, it is a matter of minutes before she enters into a torrid affair with the main character of the moment.

However, the directors (Julian Jarrold, James Marsh, and Anand Tucker, in charge of 1974, 1980 and 1983 respectively) work well within these genre conventions. This is not a movie that is meant to shock audiences with an eleventh hour twist—it is instead a horrific journey that slowly unfolds.

Despite its plot, “Red Riding” is not a story about serial killers or brutal murders—it is about all of the things that surround them: the parents, the police, the newspapers, and the communities all trying to make sense of these brutal events.

The acting is superb across the board, as characters wrestle with knowledge that the audience won’t get to know for hours, but somehow don’t come off as confused or thick. Robert Sheehan puts in a particularly moving performance as BJ, a gay prostitute who also finds himself caught up in these mysteries, inexplicably tied to each death across the three movies. Other stand-outs include Rebecca Hall as the grieving mother of a missing girl and Sean Harris, one of the many corrupt cops of the West Yorkshire Constabulary.

While audience members have the option to see only one of the films, the Kendall Square Theater is also offering marathon viewings where all three movies will be shown back-to-back. While each is good on its own, it is in the sheer length and breadth that the story has the most power.

Be warned, “Red Riding” is not a movie for the faint of heart, as there is some truly gratuitous violence, and the directors spare no detail of the gory deaths. The opening image of the first film, for example, is a dead child with swan wings stitched to her back. But this image, like the trilogy as a whole, is both horrifying and haunting, a combination that makes the endpoint well worth the five hours it takes to get there.