The Angels' Share

Director Ken Loach’s The Angels’ Share is a fun Scottish drama/caper that, interestingly, is subtitled even though the characters are speaking English, albeit with a Scottish brogue.  It turns out the subtitles are often necessary.

 

Robbie (Paul Brannigan) is a Glaswegian, i.e., from Glasgow….and from one of the poorest and roughest sections of the city where family feuds last for generations.  Trapped by his upbringing and lack of schooling, he has been in trouble with the law most of his young life and has no possibility of advancement.  However, his girlfriend (Siobhan Reilly) is about to have a baby and Robbie’s got to make something of himself.

While doing community service as a result of a judgment on a fight he was in, Harry (John Henshaw), who is in charge of the miscreants working off their sentences, takes an interest in the young man and begins to teach him about the craft and pleasures of Scotch Whisky.

 It turns out Robbie has a nose for discerning the differences between brews and sees that as a way out of his dilemma…by stealing the rarest and most expensive Scotch of all.

Thanks to his motley crew, including Gary Maitland, Jasmine Riggins and William Ruane, working with Paul Laverty’s script, the caper is a pleasant romp that will appeal especially to those who enjoy a good glass of single barrel malts.

I give The Angels’ Share a 3+ out of 5.