In 1961, Kempton Bunton from Newcastle, newly sacked from his job as a taxi driver for handing out freebie rides to the needy and preaching politics at passengers, is outraged by the fortune spent by the Government on ensuring that a portrait of the Duke of Wellington stays in the country. Indignant at yet another perceived slight against the common man, he launches a plan to steal the painting in protest.
This is a field day for Jim Broadbent in the role, backed up by a second national treasure with a virtually unrecognisable Helen Mirren as his sour-faced, put-upon wife. Bunton, a socialist firebrand with more than a touch of stand-up comic, steals every scene and leaves no doubt about a feelgood ending of some kind, even when he hands himself over to the police, resulting in a highly class-centric court case. It manages to be hugely entertaining and yet carry a real soul-felt message at the same time.
8/10
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