The main plot is about a young man, Jack, who is released from prison after spending most of his life in prison, and has to struggle to build a completely new, and law-abiding, life. He is constantly being haunted by his past mistakes, and the violence that was a part of his childhood. I also had a great deal of sympathy for the young boy who didn’t have much of a chance given the difficult childhood he had, and I felt the despair that someone in his situation had to deal with on a daily basis. The method of keeping the viewer in suspense abut Jack’s past crime kept me on the edge of my seat; there are flashbacks that reveal a bit more about his past and what he was eventually convicted of and put in jail, and it is only near the end that we see what he had done.

The story is deeply touching, and I found myself hoping that Jack is able to keep his past from ruining the new life he has made such an effort to establish. Andrew Garfield’s portrayal of Jack is sympathetic but tortured, and as I viewer I certainly found myself hoping he would succeed.

Boy A is a well-attacked and directed movie with a story that is thought-provoking and memorable; I found myself hoping that Jack can have the life he wants without letting his past ruin everything, but I was also horrified and curious as the details of his crime came out. Without giving the ending away, Jack loses everything, and there is no happy ending. To make it all the more tragic, his crime was simply to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the viewer is left as haunted as Jack is. Boy A is not easy to watch, but it is thought-provoking and extremely well done.

Rating: 8