Accused – TUBI / Netflix Review (4/5)

ACCUSED on TUBI (Netflix in the UK and other countries) is a 2023 thriller that is brutally realistic. A man is incorrectly named as a perpetrator on the internet, and a very real witch-hunt happens in the real world. This is the best new movie we’ve watched on TUBI so far. Read our Accused (2023) movie review here!

ACCUSED (2023) is a new TUBI addition and it’s one amazing scoop for the streaming service. Not only is this a really well-made movie, it’s one that everybody should watch due to the story. It’s a British production and it takes place in the UK. However, the movie had its world premiere at the Overlook Film Festival in March of 2023.

The runtime is just 88 minutes and it has an intensity and real-life horror that takes your breath away. Chaneil Kular is the star of this movie – in fact, he’s the only person on screen for much of its runtime – and he delivers a stellar performance.

Continue reading our Accused (2023) movie review below. Find it on TUBI / Netflix from September 22, 2023.

The danger of always “fitting the profile”

When Accused opens, it’s with a light and loving tone. We see a couple just making plans before the man, Harri, leaves to go to his parents’ house. His parents are going on a vacation and he’s going there to watch the family dog and just take some time to relax.

While Harri is on the train to go to the remote country house, news starts spreading about a bombing at a train station in London. The very same station that he was just leaving from. Everyone on the train is quick to contact their loved ones, to say that they are not at the station.

All in all, it’s a relatively calm and recognizable situation for those who are safe. However, with Harri having brown skin and being perceived as a Muslim – whether he is or not is never mentioned as it isn’t relevant – he is clearly being looked at differently.

Once he arrives at his parents’ house and they share a meal, they even joke that it will take forever to get through security at the airport when they leave because they “fit the profile”. It’s sad and undoubtedly a way many Muslims (or simply brown-skinned) families have had to deal with these situations.

They “fit the profile” even before there is a suspect of any kind. And they know it!

Black Mirror meets the real world

Once his parents have left, and Harri is alone, things escalate quickly. A picture is released of the suspected bomber and he is wearing clothes very similar to what Harri was wearing. Right down to the cap covering most of his face. The Internet and social media do what it does best, someone is quick to note that this person looks like someone they know.

That someone is Harri. Within minutes, his picture is all over the internet and even the press is sharing his name in naming a possible suspect. The online threats turn into an IRL home invasion, where he ends up fighting for his life.

It feels like an episode of Black Mirror, except there’s no sci-fi and it all feels like something that could happen any day. In fact, it does happen. People are called out and accused online, where someone is always quick to share the name and address of a suspect. And someone else is always ready to move from online terror and bullying to real-world physical violence.

Accused (2023) is the best TUBI release

While there are many good movies on TUBI in its back catalog, the 2023 movie Accused is the best new movie. TUBI has plenty of TV movies added constantly. Some are really bad in most ways while others surprise on quality and content.

With Accused, we’re getting a movie that could just as well have been on Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV+, or any of the other streaming giants.

It’s brilliant that this particular movie landed on TUBI, because – more than just about any other movie – this is a movie everyone should watch. People are so quick to judge and the press is quick to follow. Always wanting to be first with the “Scoop” and having the latest “Breaking News”, they share rumors and people perceive them as facts.

To me, there was nothing about the way this escalated that felt unrealistic or over the top. Nothing!

Will we ever learn *minor spoiler coming up *

The realism of Accused also very much goes for how the bomber was referred to as “radicalized” when he was thought to be a Muslim. Yet when the white man (the one we see cross paths with Harri at the train station at the very beginning of the movie) is caught, he is suddenly someone who is “suffering”. A person friends describe as “harmless”.

It’s disgusting and something we’ve seen happen again and again. Yet every time a terrorist act of any kind happens, all those with brown skin are made to feel unsafe. Just as it was the case for anyone with an Asian appearance during the height of COVID-19. We really do need to learn to be and do better.

Maybe a movie like Accused can help us see how brutal this is for the people being targeted.

Or maybe I’m being way too naive. I hope not, but I do fear as much.

Watch Accused (2023) on TUBI / Netflix now!

Philip Barantini (Boiling Point) is the director of Accused which was written by Barnaby Boulton and James Cummings. Philip Barantini and James Cummings currently have a TV series version of their movie Boiling Point out, so they’re a strong duo. I really hope they’ll continue working on these high-intensity stories with important messages.

Chaneil Kular (Sex Education) is absolutely brilliant as Harri and makes this story work so well. The parents of Harri are portrayed by Nila Aalia (Behind Her Eyes) and Nitin Ganatra (Netflix series Wednesday), who are actors you’ll probably be familiar with. For a movie like this to work, you have to be able to relate to and/or have empathy with the characters.

And you do in Accused! Even the older woman living next door to Harri’s parents, Mrs. Daly, is portrayed by someone you might recognize. Frances Tomelty from Warrior Nun and The Nevers – to name just some of her most recent work – plays the role.

If you’re very much opposed to dealing with how the real world actually works, and just want to relax and enjoy your movie, then you can pretend this is all just fiction. That nothing like this could ever happen in the real world (though it has) and that people would never be that quick to judge (though they do). Simply enjoy this as an intense thriller. It would be a shame, but you can!

However you want to watch this new TUBI addition, the most important thing is that you do watch it.

Accused (2023) is on TUBI (US) or Netflix (UK, Australia, and more) from September 22, 2023.

Details

Director: Philip Barantini
Writers: Barnaby Boulton, James Cummings
Cast: Chaneil Kular, Lauryn Ajufo, Nila Aalia, Nitin Ganatra, Frances Tomelty, Jay Johnson, Robbie O’Neill, Ollie Teague