Why the end of 28 years later is much more chilling for the British

The character who appears in the last scene is inspired by a fallen figure of English television.

Be careful, spoilers to follow if you have not seen yet 28 years later.

If the final scene of 28 years later You picked up by surprise, that’s quite normal. In the last minutes of the film, while the young Spike (Alfie Williams) is saved in extremis by a certain Jimmy and his gang of “Jimmies”. The character is embodied by Jack O’Connell, dressed in tracksuits, wearing blond and long hair, flashy rings and a cross upside down around the neck … We quickly understand that it is the kid from the introductory scene, who looked at the teletubbies and escaped the infected by hiding under the church of his father’s priest, while the latter accepted devour.

The rupture of tone is quite violent (Jimmy and her “Jimmies” play it Yamakazi of the apocalypse to occur infected), but the shock had to be much more important for British spectators: the charges of the characters are directly inspired by Jimmy Savile, British TV icon Fallen and pedocriminal, including the many crimes ( hundreds of victims) were only known after his death in 2011.

In the universe of 28 years laterthe Savile scandal never broke out since the rage virus appeared in 2002. Jimmy Crystal – The full name of the film character – only knew the media facade of man: the fantastic presenter of the show Jim’ll fix itwhich proposed to grant the wishes of the children. We understand that this figure has become, in the mind of this child alone in a ravaged world, a kind model. Until you found a cult in its image …

“” The trauma he undergoes is obviously unimaginable: his family is killed before his eyes, and his father becomes the leader of a kind of apocalyptic army “Explains Danny Boyle during a screening of the film organized by the magazine Empire. “” He treated this trauma through memories of pop culture, sports tracks and crickets. In a way, he mixed everything he remembers. »»

He also specifies that ” Jimmies play an important role in the second film “, The Bone Templealready shot by Nia Dacosta, who will be released next January and will explore ” The nature of evil ».

Some British are already offending the use of the image of Jimmy Savile, the revelation of his dark acts having been a national trauma. Savile notably presented the very famous program Top of the Popsand no one before 2007 (date of the first accusation, classified without follow -up) would have thought of questioning the presenter’s probity …

It remains to be seen what Danny Boyle and the screenwriter Alex Garland will make Jimmy Crystal in the next two parts of this trilogy.