“Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness and others have greatness thrust upon them”
Scott and Sid is the (slightly fictionalised) true tale of two young boys meeting for the first time, knowing they could never be friends because they are simply too different from each other. One is a foster kid who doesn’t get on with his foster father, has been to five different schools within the space of four years, a troublemaker and a dreamer. The other is a nerdy teen who just wants to be normal, to make friends and not have to put up with his drunken state of a mother anymore. When Scott turns up at Sid’s school and there’s no seat for him except the one next to Scott, Sid kindly offers him it. However odd the combination of the two boys are, it marks the start of something beautiful.
We see Scott Elliott and Sid Sadowskyj (played by the incredible Richard Mason and Tom Blyth) over the course of several years, going from sixth-form school to becoming young entrepreneurs in the real world. There is no big storyline as such, but watching their friendship and the kind of relationship they have with each other just makes you want to watch on. The kinds of conversations they have are witty, emotional and real. Something you would expect to have with two real best friends.
Behind closed doors, both Scott and Sid lead very dark and different lives to what you see when they’re both together. Sid’s relationship with his mother is nothing short of depressing and heartbreaking. Karen Sadowskyj (played by Charlotte Milchard) gives an incredible performance of a drunkard mourning the death of her own mother, who died several years previously. She has become fixed in a loop of drinking illegal alcohol which Sid provides for her on a daily basis from the corner shop. She is a mess that Sid can’t wait to clean up and with the absence of his own father, Sid carries on and bares it all – until he one day gets the chance to do something about it. Scott’s relationship with his foster parents is fraught and with his reoccurring bad dreams and ‘accidents’ along the way, it makes it harder for them to connect.
After a while of getting to know each other, they create a list – DREAMCHASERS, which they add to it every so often. The last thing on it – “Make a movie” is exactly what they did. It probably wasn’t the easiest job for actors Richard and Tom to be directed by the two men they’re supposedly playing. No pressure there then. After 15 years in the making and of waiting around to get the green light, the real Scott Elliott and Sid Sadowskyj (who are now fully grown men) got to tick off their final goal on the list.
This film feels more like a sense of achievement rather than your typical blockbuster movie. It isn’t filled to the brim with action scenes, car chases, sex scenes or brutal violence – heck, there’s not even much swearing, but it brings out the personalities of the real men behind this story and they finally get to tell it to the world. It’s a powerful statement to people watching, it says you can do whatever you want if you try hard enough. There is no dream too big and anything is possible if you believe in yourself.
