Common

Common is a television programme that is presented as a film, directed by David Blair and was shown on the 26th of May 2014 on BBC 1. However I recently watched Common on Netflix. The film starts with a young lad, sat in his car clearly waiting for something and the next thing you know a group of 3 lads run towards the car, get in it and shout for the boy to start driving, driving fast because they need to get away. As the boy starts driving, during the car journey, it becomes apparent that something had happened in the pizza place, one of the 3 lads had stabbed someone and run and was now unaware of whether the boy he had stabbed would survive or not. The next morning, the news of a fatal murder in the pizza shop is reported on the local news. So the hound lad driving the car decides to try and persuade his ‘friend’ who is guilty of the murder to go to the police and confess but ends up getting threatened and told not to say anything by the young murderer. Eventually the truth is told and all the boy involved, the driver and the group of 3 lads are put on trial for joint enterprise murder and after the person who committed the murder pleads guilty, the other three are left with the difficult decision of whether to plead guilty to intended GBH and serve a maximum of 6 years or risk serving life but through taking the risk, they could end up with no charges at all.

Common is quite a short film where not much seems to happen, there is he main story line of the murder and nothing else really happens but I suppose this stops it from getting complicated and doesn’t allow for the film to diverge from the message it has about whether life for joint enterprise murder should be allowed to be give as a punishment. Joint enterprise is where under the doctrine of joint enterprise, a person may be found guilty for another person’s crime. Simple association or accidental presence during a crime is insufficient for a charge under joint enterprise. A suspect must knowingly assist or encourage the crime and agree to act together with the primary offender for a common purpose. For example, the driver of a getaway vehicle can be charged with robbery under joint enterprise even if an accomplice actually perpetrated the crime. So therefore joint enterprise murder is where everyone involved with the murder is prosecuted for murder even though only one person commited the actual murder, like only one person stabbed someone but everyone involved in the planning is sententced to life imprisionment for murder.

I think that this film successfully showcases the effects of and issues with joint enterprise murder, as I was unaware of what joint enterprise murder even was before watching this film and now I know and can make my own conclusions about the drawbacks and benefits of it.

Common is a British film that contains a few famous British actors that play their characters very well. The acting is very effective as you really feel for an empathise with the characters in the film. Which give you a more emotional attachment with what is happening and make you consider what it would be like to be in the position of the family of the boys and the boys themselves and what you would do.