Film Review - Accused (2023)

From the director of 2021’s Boiling Point comes another film that exudes stress throughout, albeit in a very different way. Proving his expertise at simmering tensions, Philip Barantini returns with thriller Accused.

The film follows recent graduate and graphic designer Harri (Chaneil Kular). Living in London with his girlfriend Chloe (Lauryn Ajufo), Harri travels back to his family home via train to look after the dog whilst his parents go on holiday. Whilst still on the train, news breaks that there has been an explosion at the central London station that Harri has just left. Seeing that there have been fatalities, Harri s the other commuters in ing his loved ones to let them know he is safe. Shaken but relieved, Harri makes it back safely to his family home and has dinner with his parents before they depart, leaving him alone with the dog.

As the explosion dominates the evening news, an unclear CCTV picture is released of the suspect and Chloe jokes over the phone to Harri how similar he looks to the man – they are even wearing the same hat that Harri wore this morning. Harri doesn’t appreciate the joke but dismisses it. But soon, someone that Harri went to school with remarks the same thing on Twitter. As Harri zones out in front of the tv, Twitter begins to explode in a frenzy of accusations to the point where Harri is declared as the bomber. Harri awakes to see that he is now the victim of a manhunt where people are using the internet to track him down and deal out vigilante justice.

Accused addresses so many prevalent issues and topics. The internet and social media have opened up our lives in a way that means that a complete stranger can not only find out who your friends are and what you like but also what your phone number is and most worryingly – where you live. We can be tracked and in this case, hunted down. Accused also looks at mob mentality and in particular how social media inflames this. An offhand comment or casual remark can be grow into a call to arms and the ability to quickly share and send information means that a mob can grow from ten people to a hundred in seconds.

The film also looks at racism, prejudices and certain divides that exist throughout the country. The speed at which some people decide that the perpetrator is a particular race and religion is certainly reflective of real life prejudices.

What is perhaps just as scary as how quickly people online can spout hatred and incorrect theories is how quickly they can also delete these accusations and make their profiles private. Why care about your actions when there are no consequences?

Accused is a damming portrait of modern Britain and social media and is all the more terrifying in that there is not an ounce of fantasy about it. A tense film that will have audiences holding their breath throughout.