Customer Reviews
More than a gangster movie - By: G. J. Weeks, 14 Jan 2007 
This is a gripping tale of a battle between good & evil, a passion play acted out in grim Glasgow.The hero is released from prison after a sentence for gun-running. Back home he resists the approaches of his old gang boss & his henchman, a corrupt senior detective. His brother is on drugs, his mother dying in hospital.His parole involves being under the care of a priest who gets him acting in a passion play. Soon our hero is exposing the hypocrisy of his fellow players & doing battle with his old gang over their pimping & other crimes. Here is a good cast with some very well known actors. The plot has some surprising twists with sparkling humour. My one criticism is that the standard of Glaswegian dialogue makes Taggart sound like received pronunciation. Non Scots need subtitles. But this is a well made film with a strong presentation of the continuing conflict between good & evil at the heart of the Christian message. Here we have a Judas & an unlikely Messiah. Only one question remains. Why the title?
A film that you are sure should have been made before... - By: E. M. Prieto, 31 Oct 2006 
This film inteligently explores the passion story, by reflecting on the impact it could have in a modern day setting. The choice of setting, Glasgow, is well used & unnervingly accurate at times.
The film in essence is a classic gangster romp, whose hero, the ex-convict seeking a fresh start, refreshingly does not falll back into his old ways, but does eventuallly pay the price for his decisions.
In some ways, this film is almost a British version of "American History X" in the sense that it highlights problems of modern Britain. The distinction is that here, the solution is born from the inspiration of the biblical account of Jesus as a rebel figure in history.
I highly recommend this film, maybe the strongest recommendation I can give though, is anecdotal. I decided to pick this film up at 1.45am after having seen it on TV, by the time I had clicked the buy button, somone else had come along & bought the second hand copy I wanted :)
Beautifully bleak - By: E. Firth, 22 May 2006 Made for around 1/6th of the typical hollywood price, Man Dancin' is of a high quality. It portrays humour, anger & great sadness through brilliantly real characters. Although there are similarities with the story of Jesus, it is certainly not a paralllel & stands strong without the religious references. A well made film which definately deserves to be seen.
Powerful and passionate - By: , 21 Oct 2005 This is a very fine film, with a strong cast & some excellent performances -- though it has to be said that some are playing so true to type they could have acted their parts in their sleep. (James Cosmo's crime boss springs to mind) Alex Fern shines as Jimmy Kerrigan, the ex-gangster who emerges from a 9 year prison term a changed man. He returns home to Glasgow, presented as a ruined city of chaos & crime, determined to work through his probation & then emigrate to the peace of a Greek island. A catholic priest (the always watchable Tom Georgeson) offers him the opportunity to escape his prescribed anger management classes by joining the parish am dram group who are working on the annual passion play. Strong echoes of 'Jesus of Montreal' here.
Inevitably, he takes the role of Jesus & the play becomes the focus of a campaign to rid the community of crime bringing Jimmy into conflict with members of the group, his old boss & the corrupt local police.
Some may find the religious imagery of the film - it is self-conciously a parable - a little heavy-handed, but I thought as an exploration of the Christian themes of sacrifice & atonement the film worked very well. Some notes jarred, especiallly the rather utopian & over-optimistic picture of a community ridding itself of its criminal oppressors, but despite this I'd say this is a film which deserves to be much better known & I highly recommend it.
