'LIAM' WORKS AGAINST ITSELF.

A grim little number that lacks the depth or complexity to justify its bleakness, ``Liam'' would like to make important statements about economic inequity, intolerance and the more toxic interpretations of religion. But like its seven-year-old title character, the movie has a great deal of trouble getting its message across - and when it succeeds, what it's trying to say is oversimplified and garbled.

Set in Liverpool in the depths of the Great Depression, the film focuses on the trials of the working-class Sullivan family. Liam (cute little guy Anthony Borrows, making quite a demanding acting debut) is the wide-eyed, severely tongue-tied baby of the clan. His adolescent sister, Teresa (Megan Burns, another very talented newcomer), and young adult brother, Con (David Hart), also live in the dingy row house shared with their mum (Claire Hackett) and dad (Ian Hart, who has played John Lennon more than once in the past).

The film begins happily enough, on some 1930s New Year's Eve when Dad makes faces for the children's amusement, and their whole block, it seems, is rendered happily drunk and singing. But soon after, the shipyard where Dad works is shut, and the family must subsist on Teresa's earnings as a maid for a wealthy family and some unexplained job Con finds. Dad's bitterness is exacerbated by his feisty, independent nature; he burns at the need to kowtow to the local day-labor supervisor, and when denied work after he does, spits in the man's fat face. But that's just the start of a descent into fascism, which is hardly mitigated by the fact that Teresa's employers are the Jewish shipyard owner and his adulterous wife.

Though it isn't examined very well, one interesting wrinkle on Dad's journey to vileness is a hatred for Irish immigrants that's as virulent as his anti-Semitism. Considering the family name and its deep-rooted Catholicism, they surely come from Celtic roots. But screenwriter Jimmy McGovern chooses to dwell on the psychic terrors of parochial schooling.

Poor little Liam's ruddy head is repeatedly filled with guilt and visions of the most Gothic damnations by his sadistic teacher (a hilariously poker-faced Anne Reid) and the stern parish priest (Russell Dixon), with whom the boy must make first confessions and communion. As her own world unravels, Mum fixates on the big confirmation ceremony which, of course, every other member of her family could potentially disrupt.

The often fine and intelligent English director Stephen Frears (``My Beautiful Laundrette,'' ``Dangerous Liaisons,'' last year's effervescent ``High Fidelity'') does manage to lend some of his trademark subversive playfulness to a lot of the religious scenes. But since McGovern has such an ax to grind, director and writer ultimately work at cross purposes.

The scenario's two biggest ploys - trying to make us think we're seeing everything through the eyes of a confused, innocent child and a climactic tragedy that explores new frontiers of melodramatic contrivance - register just this side of smarmy.

``LIAM''

(Rated R: violence, nudity, language, intolerance)

The stars: Ian Hart, Claire Hackett, Anthony Borrows, Megan Burns, Anne Reid.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Stephen Frears. Written by Jimmy McGovern. Produced by Colin McKeown and Martin Tempia. Released by Lions Gate Films.

Running time: One hour, 30 minutes.

Playing: Town Center 5, Encino; Playhouse 7, Pasadena; Monica, Santa Monica; Westside Pavilion, West L.A.

Our rating: Two and one half stars.