Ruby

A teenage girl tries to navigate her way through college life, whilst also trying to deal with the responsibilities that come from being a young carer.

Ruby (Higbee) is one of 800,000 young carers under the age of eighteen in the UK right now. This is not something she shares lightly, and her college friends are unaware of the pressures that sit on Ruby’s mind on a daily basis. As Ruby tries to focus on her exams and her relationships with the girls and boys around her, she also has to deal with jibes about the noise coming from her house in the middle of the night, and emergency phone calls that pull her away from important situations to run home.

Ruby’s life is almost completely tied to her mother (Bowden), who she cares for, and who has depressive and manic episodes which need to be managed. Her brother, Jay (McAlinden), is of no use and has his own problems to deal with, as he’s getting himself wrapped up in the local gang culture, and the NHS care sector isn’t much use either, so Ruby is left to look after her mum on her own. Life still goes on outside of the house though, and Ruby is determined to push herself through college to find a future that is hers alone, that is if her mother will let her.

Played with a lot of heart and integrity by writer, producer, and star, Holly Higbee, Ruby’s story is one which resonates around the country in a million different homes, in a million different ways. The dialogue is natural and authentic and down to its roots, while the lines are delivered by a diverse young cast who understand their roles completely. Director, Islah Abdur-Rahman brings together the audio and visual aspects of his film seamlessly, drawing us into the story as he shows us in raw detail just how the weight on Ruby’s shoulders is pulling her down. The ensemble scenes are pacy and real, while the close-ups of Ruby, either at home, or alone in a crowd, really bring home how she is feeling.

Both Higbee and Abdur-Rahman are aiming for as realistic a view as they can get in telling Ruby’s tale, commissioning the film to raise awareness of the challenges facing young carers every day in the UK. Partnering up with Newham Sixth Form College, offering mentoring and on-the-job training to a cohort of creative media students, while allowing them to become cast and crew for the film, also lends Ruby a measure of authenticity that would be hard to replicate in other circumstances. A definite feeling of docudrama or kitchen sink comes out from the watching of Ruby, and while the heady heights of Ken Loach or Mike Leigh are out of the reaches of most directors, they are at least aimed for here with Abdur-Rahman showing glimpses of a true filmmaker at work.

With an important message to tell and a powerful central performance, Ruby captures the spirit of its characters and pulls no punches in delivering a lasting impression on its audience, as the raw truth of one story in amongst hundreds of thousands of others, is shared with us.