‘Locke’: Solid as a rock

One of the gems of the 2013 Venice Film Festival, writer-director Steven Knight's “Locke” is literally a one-man show that rests on the able shoulders of actor Tom Hardy.

Set in the confines of a BMW sedan and revolving around a man intermittently talking on his mobile phone with several characters as he is driving from Birmingham to London, this film is a thrilling ride from start to finish. Yet its structural elements of the thriller genre rest on a powerful and contemplative screenplay that poses one of the most fundamental human questions: Does one “wrong” erase all the good that's been done before?

The film starts at night, as a man walks out of a construction site and gets in his car. He slowly starts driving but there is something immensely tense in his face. This is Ivan Locke (Hardy), whom we gradually learn is one of the most reputable construction site managers in the country. He is solid as a rock, a dependable family man, a good friend and an impeccable employee who never makes mistakes. The next morning, we learn, a massive concrete pour will be executed for this specific construction site, which is the foundation of a mega skyscraper. Locke is the only man capable of overseeing the operation the next day, but then why is he driving out of town towards London?

Locke first calls his house and starts talking to his son with a calm, authoritative yet affectionate voice. He says he can't come home for the football match tonight. He says the same thing to his wife. Then he calls his boss and tells him he won't be able to come to the construction site the next morning, he has to take care of “something.” His boss is furious despite Locke's confirmations that he will oversee the concrete pour through the phone with the deputy site manager, Donal (Andrew Scott), who is also panicking about Locke not showing up.

It turns out that the “solid” Locke had made a mistake the previous year by spending one night with a woman called Beth, who is now about to give birth to his child in London.

But Locke isn't having any of it, despite all the hollers, begging and judgments; he is driving to London because he has to do the right thing, which is to stand by Beth's side as she delivers the child. He has chosen to lose everything he has, his family and his job, because despite all his ethical dilemmas, he cannot forgo his moral principles. He wants to be as solid as the concrete that will be poured the next day.

What is astonishing about this film is that, despite its single location, director Knight provides us with such alternative and gripping framing, along with a meticulously tight editing job, that we never feel stifled.

The conversations that Locke has on the phone are written with such precision that they deliver everything we need to know about Locke's character and his relationships with his family and colleagues. Though we never see the other people at the other end of the phone line, we are sizzled as we hear the dramatic turns in the dialogues and watch Hardy's range of expressions that travel through frustration, anger, regret, affection, loyalty and his obsession with trying to remain calm.

Hardy proves that he is an excellent actor who is more than just an "A-list" celebrity. Of course his talents were already eminent in “The Dark Knight” and “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” but this film is his ticket to the British greats.

Perhaps the philosophical dialogues and monologues in which Locke engages with his dead father are a bit over the top, but they are still necessary for us to make sense of the man's miserable childhood and his fixation with not turning out to be like his failure of a father. I assume many men will relate to these masculine moments of repressed memories of male emasculation.

“Locke” is one of the best films of the week. It is pure human drama that plunges into our own moral dilemmas and urges us to ponder the thin line between integrity and foolishness.