Born Equal is a 2006 BBC movie by Dominic Savage. You can watch the movie Born Equal with english subtitles online by streaming. No download needed.
Dominic Savage is a filmmaker known for exploring the subject of social inequity in contemporary England. In this film focusing on the country's homelessness problem Savage follows the lives of several characters who are struggling to survive in a shelter for those with no place to live and no one to turn to. Michelle is a single mother who is pregnant and desperate to escape her husband Robert - a violent ex-convict who was only recently released from prison. Yemi is a journalist who, along with his terrified wife, was recently forced to flee from Nigeria in fear of his life. Meanwhile, wealthy, forty year-old father-to-be Mark (Colin Firth) feels profound guilt over his good fortune in life, and selflessly determines to give back to the community by becoming a street worker.
Mark (Colin Firth) lives in central London with his wife Laura (Emilia Fox), who is expecting a baby, in a large house in an upperclass estate. After making a huge financial killing with his City of London firm, Mark--having refused to give a homeless man any cash--begins to feel guilty about his success and life of luxury. He returns to find the homeless man, "sleeping rough" in the Underground, and gives him 100 pounds. Mark resolves to use his financial position to help the poor. It becomes clear that he is also using his newfound concern with the poor to escape from his wife and the coming baby, and that he feels trapped and frightened by his life.
Robert (Robert Carlyle), a violent repeat-offender; has been released from prison; he moves into a hostel in London, where he meets the pregnant Michelle (Anne-Marie Duff), who has been placed in the same hostel by social workers because her husband has been beating her. Robert and Michelle form a romantic relationship of sorts, while Robert continues his quest to find his mother, whom he has not seen in many years. Also living in the hostel is Nigerian journalist Yemi (David Oyelowo) with his wife (Nikki Amuka-Bird)and child, working as kitchen help in a restaurant and desperate to raise 5,000 pounds to bring his father from Nigeria to London, before the political gangs who drove Yemi out of Nigeria kill the father. Mark's attempts to help the poor ultimately fail, leading to disaster for himself and others. He has worked with the same social workers who placed Michelle in the hostel; he helps the social workers to place 17-year-old homeless girl Zoe there. He becomes inordinately close to Zoe, almost falling into a sexual relationship with her, before rejecting her advances and returning home to his wife, now heavily pregnant and distraught at his absences, convinced that he is having an affair. Robert's relationship with Michelle falls apart when he finds that his mother died while he was in prison. He is not there when Michelle goes into labor. Instead, walking back to the hostel, he is almost hit by a car--driven by Mark, and carrying Mark and his wife Laura home after a dinner out at which they have resolved their differences and he has told her what he has been doing--tells her he had lost his way and apologizes to her for having been so cruel in his neglect. Enraged to the point of psychosis by the near-accident, Robert follows Mark and Laura home, knife in hand. When Mark comes to the door, Robert stabs him. With Mark dead and Robert in prison, Laura and Michelle both give birth--their babies, born fatherless, are born equal.
Robert Carlyle – Robert
Peter O'Connor – Hostel Manager
Colin Firth – Mark
Nicholas Burns – Michael
Pearce Quigley – Beggar 1
Anne-Marie Duff – Michelle
Gemma Barrett – Danielle
Charlie Creed-Miles – Man in Hostel
Emilia Fox – Laura
David Oyelowo – Yemi
Nikki Amuka-Bird – Itshe
Anne-Marie Bossman – Adanna
Megan Dodds – Anastasia
Toby Kebbell – Beggar 2
Antonio Pelayo – Kitchen Cleaner
Julia Davis – Sally
Nichola Burley – Zoe
Joanne Adams – Shop Assistant
Emily Woof – Sandra
Ria Haydon – Midwife