mike dewey Way more than just a football thuggery story, as our protagonist has to weave his way from being an orphaned Black kid (Nonso Anozie) raised by White foster parents in a predominantly White London east end neighborhood to being a self-respected man with a job, family and peace of mind. Along this most circuitous route, he encounters racism by both Whites and Blacks: by Whites because of his color and by Blacks because of his cockneyed "White" sounding speech patterns and by his reluctance to "go Black" to his so-called African/Jamaican roots. He is quite content to merely be himself and is fully comfortable with his Caucasian foster parents who brought him up with love and attention. He cares far more about his family and his mates than for some artificial and ephemeral political/racial cause. The jail cell scene with the back and forth dialogue between Cass and his "Rasta-ish" cell-mate bears this point out. But his issues with the aforementioned football thuggery with its concomitant need for constant revenge through violence is keeping him from the realization of his true inner self, the real man he wants to be. The thrust of this film deals with how, over long periods of time, he must manage to extricate those inner demons in order to achieve any sort of lasting peace. And a superlative job indeed is done to portray this metamorphosis by Jon Baird & co., especially the lead role by Nonso. No fancy existential/psychological drama in this hard-hitting, straight-forward piece: just a man in search of himself with the hopes of finding some semblance of a peaceful, fulfilling existence.

Angelus2 An elderly white couple, adopt a child from Jamaica and raise him up during the 70's...I chronicles his life from being racially attacked... to actually attacking people for his beloved football team.The character of Cass is a man who blindingly loves his country and must face prosecution from others and constantly told he does not belong...I loved his rise, and the respect he accumulates from people.I found the prison part to be very fascinating as another Jamiacan British cell mate tells him about why he should care for his roots, and Cass's place in the world.The fight scenes were brilliantly shot and show Great Britain's hard men...We are not all like Hugh Grant..LOL..A good solid film with a great cast of actors..

devinejames1967 I thought after reading some of the bad comments on this film that I should leave a comment. The film seems to capture 80's England and I thought it gripping and flowed at a good pace to keep my interest to the very end - (my wife says I nearly always fall asleep before the end of a film). I watched this DVD with my 18yr old daughter who also enjoyed it as good entertainment and a brief historic view to what football hooligans were like, she had no idea this happened back then. I also agree the use of news footage from the time only adds to how genuine this film feels. Nice to see ex West Ham and Celtic striker getting a very small part in the pub in Newcastle.

joker_greenhouse I wouldn't usually bother leaving a comment, but I just finished watching Cass and was surprised to see people had slated the film here at IMDb.. perhaps leaving other folk interested in unique individuals worth reading about to overlook such a powerful story.If you are looking for consistent violence in a movie, it's not the movie your looking for. This film, and the underline story, is one of someones rise from ultimately unfair odd's.. and onto the best at what was offered. This also offers a valuable insight into an otherwise mindless brute, and to see the notions for his behaviour..Bottom line: Watch the movie if you detest racism.. don't bother if your going to overlook all that and have a whine at the end because you didn't see enough blood.