This story begins as a narration of its protagonist Charles Bronson as a vaudeville performance,
alternating scenes from his childhood and youth up to his adulthood, narrating them
as if he was in a theater in front of a live audience.
There are fragments of him speaking to the camera with bipolar characteristics, with
moments where he just stares directly at the public, almost expressionless.
He comments that he always wanted to be famous, knowing he was made for better things, although
the audience doesn’t have a reaction to his words.
Parallel to that, there are sequences where Bronson is shown severely wounded in a cage
while having a violent encounter with security guards, denoting his aggressive attitude.
Even with this unsettling scene, Bronson’s theater persona laughs out loud, to later
show a credit card that says this film is based on a true story.
He comments that there wasn’t something bad with his mind as a baby or a toddler,
but as a kid, he started to rob, something that would piss his classmates, often getting
into fights, fights he always won.
He even beat a teacher to the ground, throwing a table at him out of rage.
Bronson had altercations at school that always ended with a call to his mother, but she used
to ignore his conflicts.
He explains that although he was always a violent child, he was not ‘bad-bad,’ as
he still had his principles.
He took the first job he could at a dinner restaurant, but used to steal when no one
was around.
Still, he shared the earnings with a colleague he had feelings about.
Bronson narrates that he came into the world with the name of ‘Michael Peterson,’ but
later changed it to his well-known alter ego, Charlie Bronson.
There were attempts to hold him by the authorities during his youth, but Bronson would fight
back with his fists against the cops.
At one of the fights, he even goes so far as to rip out a cop’s ear with his mouth.
In 1974 England, he and his former co-worker Irene moved as a couple into a cheap home
after having their baby.
It seems like Bronson enjoyed or at least tolerated his new family life.
After a few episodes of theft and violence on a post office, Bronson is given a seven-year
jail sentence, with his mother hoping that this time will decrease, perhaps reaching
only four years.
Now Bronson is speechless in front of his wife, who never sees again.
Contrary to what many people think, Bronson is affected by his admission to prison initially,
but he immediately pokes fun at himself in the narrative, now playing the role of a clown
in a fancy suit an alleging he always fancied himself as a comedian.
For him, the cell was like a hotel room, where he paced in circles around an empty space,
cut off from the world all 365 days of the year.
He has an episode of rage while refusing to do his sewing job, causing many guards to
beat him down.
Bronson's haughty manner during prison officiating made him quite popular among the other inmates,
but there were more crude encounters with the guards, giving him new jobs such as serving
tea, which he does pretty well.
While serving, a fellow inmate compliments his fists, being the first time someone says
something nice about them.
This comment freezes him in awe.
Bronson calls himself 'Britain’s most violent prisoner,' considering prison the perfect
place for him.
It shows a series of newpapers’ articles that portrays Bronson as ‘out of control’
and as a wannabe famous prisoner.
The only thing he didn't like was the constant switching between prisons, recalling his stay
at Parkhust, where he lived just like a king, even with his constant encounters with the
guards.
He enjoys his new way of living, to lately ending up in a mental sanatorium that calls
'the funny farm,' a place where people covers their faces with poop, and where he needs
up to four men to control subjugate him.
During his stay, Bronson plays the role of mentally ill very well, and is subjected to
forced medical treatments that leave him sedated most of the time.
At recreational time, one of the patients tries to talk with a sedated Bronson about
his pedophilic impulses, but Bronson only can express gibberish spitting out in denial.
The few escape attempts are made in a dazed state that subdues and leaves him unable to
even walk normally.
One of them was during a night party, where he can barely walk, and with a hand gesture,
a member of the staff tells him to go back with the others, and Bronson can’t do anything
about it.
Amid his delusions of grandeur, Bronson has an idea, and that is to murder one of the
sanatorium's patients to return to prison.
After all, they are loonies, and he chooses the one pedophile who talked to him earlier.
This attempt fails, but it manages to give him 26 years of solitary confinement that
he considers unfair as he has never killed anyone in his life.
He enacts this as a side-to-side show, explaining he received no trials for this verdict.
On stage, Bronson shows scenes of a rooftop protest he made in the city and explains that
he has cost the system tens of millions of pounds in damages, now considering himself
Britain’s most expensive prisoner.
After these riots, he’s declared mentally sane and gets released, eager to find out
what the world has to offer him.
His last meeting at prison was to give him back his belongings, which are a wristwatch,
a leather cardholder and a comb, with the last one being a joke due Bronson baldness.
He’s reunited with his parents who have moved to a new house, and show him where he
will now be sleeping.
Bronson learns that many of his childhood things were left behind in his old residence
in Luton.
Bronson talks about his Uncle Jack and how he knows everyone, so he might be able to
help him get his things back.
Bronson travels to Luton, where he meets his flamboyant Uncle Jack running a brothel that
welcomes Bronson as an exotic figure.
In there, all ladies get closer to Bronson, pleasing him with a cocktail.
There was also a familiar figure from Bronson's life at Luton, a former prison mate who praised
Bronson's fists when serving tea.
This fellow proposes a fighting business to Bronson, who needs a new stage name.
After being denied the name Charlton Heston, his partner suggests 'Charles Bronson' after
the American actor, which he sticks with.
The now named Bronson sees an exotic pole dancer and ends up crying as it is the first
time he has seen a naked woman in years.
One morning he talks to a girl named Alison, who works with his uncle.
She compliments his scars and muscles, and kisses him passionately.
Bronson allows this and then makes her his lover.
His new job consists of bare-knuckle fistfights at farms and small rooms.
He wins without much effort, sometimes indulging in taunts such as urinating on his opponent.
Despite not having such a large starting pay, Bronson decides to continue, even taking on
several opponents at once and defeating them for the entertainment of others.
There comes the point where Bronson takes on a dog bare-knuckle, beating it.
One day, Bronson confesses to Alison that he loves her while she’s reading, but she
admits loving Brian, her boyfriend who has a motorcycle.
At Christmas, Bronson violently robs a jewelry store, taking a ring for Alison.
He knocks a seller unconscious, and after the robbery, he tells a frightened saleswoman
to not call the police until fifteen minutes later.
Having Alison in front of him, she tells Bronson that she doesn't love him because he has no
ambition, and that's when Bronson offers her the ring.
Unfortunately, she says she will marry Brian, leaving Bronson heartbroken, congratulating
her.
He later tells the audience that the saleswoman from the robbery actually called the police
fifteen minutes later, causing Bronson to return to jail after sixty-nine days of freedom.
When asked what he was doing during those sixty-nine days, Bronson replies that he was
building an empire, a silly reply for the prison governor.
Back at his cell, a librarian guard named Andy Love proceeds to leave Bronson something
to read, but Bronson locks the door and has the other guards called in for having a new
hostage, whom he threatens by yelling and swearing.
Knowing that they will go to save the guard, Bronson yells at Andy to help him cover his
naked body with petroleum jelly, so he can face easier those coming for him.
However, Bronson is no match for everyone, getting badly wounded and transferred to a
new cell while muzzled.
The prison governor tells him that he will die inside if he continues with his nihilistic
attitude.
After a few words of praise from Mr. Daniels, his Spanish-learner art teacher at the art
room, Bronson finds himself for a delight of drawing, especially bird figures.
His teacher tells him to find that missing piece that doesn’t belong there.
An animated sequence shows a bit of Bronson's deranged thoughts until he has a conversation
with the prison governor, who wishes him success in his new artistic field, although Bronson
doesn’t seem to accept it in a good way.
Thanks to Mr. Daniels, Bronson reluctantly gives a sample of his work to the governor.
His teacher encourages him in his new projects, but due to an oversight in his communication,
Bronson ends up attacking him from behind, believing Mr. Daniels wanted to take advantage
out of his talent.
After this, the audience cheers Bronson on stage, but he leaves the place after a few
seconds.
Bronson paints himself black in the art room after attacking his art teacher, he swears
the guards he will kill Mr. Daniels, and when the prison governor asks him what he wants
now from outside the room, Bronson replies that he wants music.
He keeps his teacher bound and covered under a blanket while classical music plays outside.
He’s now busy making crafts and painting Mr. Daniels’ face, but after a few moments,
Bronson thinks he has finished his work of art, so he tells the guards that they can
come in and save his hostage, prepared for the imminent combat.
Although Bronson puts up a fight, the guards eventually subdue him until he’s on the
ground.
There is a fade to black, and an on-screen text indicates that the real Charles Bronson
has been in prison for 34 years, with 30 of them in solitary confinement with no apparent
release date.
A bloodied Bronson is shown inside a small cage that doesn't even allow him to sit up,
making sounds of pain.
A pair of guards close the doors that will give Bronson his last breath of fresh air
before leaving him all alone.