by Bryan & Heather
It’s hard to be a film fan these days without being familiar with the works of Simon Pegg or Andy Serkis. Serkis in particular has been a mainstay in our household through his involvement with Peter Jackson’s films set in Middle Earth, both on and off screen (he was the second unit director on The Hobbit trilogy, among other things). So when Bryan caught wind of a dark comedy period piece starring both Pegg and Serkis as erstwhile Scottish serial killers, it was only a matter of time before we got around to watching it.
As it turned out, 2010’s Burke and Hare was much more historically grounded than we had initially realized. Based on the real events of the 1828 West Port Murders in Edinburgh, the film is set amidst the fierce competition for cadavers that took place between Edinburgh’s internationally renowned surgical schools. Recent legislation banning the use of executed criminals’ bodies and innovative new coffins had made it even more difficult to find subjects for dissection, leading to surgeons’ willingness to pay top dollar for bodies, no questions asked. Enter William Burke (Pegg) and William Hare (Serkis), two down-on-their-luck hustlers who find that one of the tenants in Hare’s boarding house has died. After stumbling onto an unexpectedly lucrative arrangement with the local Dr. Knox, the two haltingly, comically lurch down the road towards simply murdering unexpecting citizens to fuel their newfound living standards before finally coming to the notice of Edinburgh authorities.
While Burke and Hare’s opening text that “This is a true story except for the parts that are not” might lead one to expect a less-than-accurate adaptation of historical material, the film is surprisingly in line with what records exist of the real events. The progression from body disposal to accidental death to outright murder is largely in line with the historical figures’ actions, as is the scheme taking place with the knowledge and indirect involvement of Hare’s wife. The identity of some victims has been changed, however—the key final body that sparks the investigation is not a woman but the local crime boss, for example—and Burke’s wife is replaced by the prostitute-turned-actress Ginny (Isla Fisher), whom he pines after and ultimately agrees with Hare’s darker ambitions in order to gain more money to fund her dream, the first all-female production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The movie also provides the authorities with more hard evidence through Dr. Knox’s photographic portfolio of his dissections than they had actually possessed. In light of this evidence, Burke’s ultimate decision to confess and become the city’s scapegoat, letting Hare and the women walk free, becomes a selfless act of atonement instead of a possibly strong-armed police tactic that may have assigned some or even all the murders in the area during that period to a single individual of questionable guilt.
Aside from the period piece of it all, Burke and Hare as a movie turned out to be pleasant, but not particularly hilarious or memorable. Most of the humor comes from the inherent farce of these two bumbling characters attempting, and at least initially failing, to gather bodies no matter the source. It is also of that era of historical comedies that tries to invoke laughs by having characters anachronistically “invent” modern terms while figuratively looking right into the camera, with the usual mixed results. Pegg and Serkis were as entertaining as always, though, and if anyone who enjoys watching a fictionalized 19th century has missed this one, we’d say it’s worth giving a try.