The Krays (1990)

Director: Peter Medak
Starring: Gary Kemp, Martin Kemp, Billie Whitelaw, Susan Fleetwood, Kate Hardie  UK. 1h 59m. 

Peter Medak’s  sentimental, raw biography of twin London gangsters, documents their rise from the back streets of London to the headlines of the international press. The film charismatically details their devotion to their mother and the unique bond that drove them to passion and violence.

As with a lot of biographical movies, it is difficult to encapsulate a lifetime into a short cinematic piece. So the movie only touches on several key events in the lives of the Kray twins. While some of the grimy and often violent crimes that are still evident in the London boroughs, are recorded in the movie. It still misses some of the more difficult and hard hitting facts about the crime duo, but while it strives to keep the timeline and facts in check it does manage to paint the pair in a very different light without many of the mental health problems that we’re more aware of.