patterson_j81 Reviews

Secret City (2012)

A must watch!

[9/10 · 12 December 2013]

There are some films that make you angry because they tell you things you didn't know and make you feel that you've been cheated - this is one of them.

I'd heard of the Corporation of London but only in street signs. To find out that they're a centre for tax avoidance, they have people in Parliament and their role in causing the financial crisis made me furious and eager to find out more.

The film has a really useful historical contextualisation for the first part, using a wide range of interesting interviewees whilst weaving in a tour of the city and plenty of really good archive footage. It leave you in no doubt as to where the City's power is derived from historically.

The human-interest angle is explained by "victims" of the Corporation whose attempts simply to be democratic were thwarted as well as by reflections of Vicars (yes, really - some of the most interesting characters in the film), workers and of course the human impact of the current crisis.

There were one or two problems with camera focus on occasion but then if it's true (as I heard at a Q&A) that it was done with no money at all, I can forgive them that as it fits with the aesthetics of radical documentary anyway. The music is sufficiently haunting to stay with you for a few days, which is a great effect.

It's a really complex film in many respects, which means I had to watch it more than once to really understand but I'd recommend it really highly to anyone who wants to really understand what's going on in the world and why!

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (2003)

Still the best documentary I've ever seen

[10/10 · 12 December 2013]

Wow! I know the Battle of Chile was one of the most important documentaries about a coup ever made (I'll not say why - watch it!), but I'm convinced this trumps it. Some film makers arrive in Caracas, Venezuela to make a film about the new president...and then a coup starts, and for some reason (probably sheer arrogance) the coup leaders let them stay. I'll not say more on the story because the twists and turns are amazing and I don't want to ruin it.

The film shows how the reactionary right wing forces in the country, backed by the US sought to overthrow democracy, and call the ensuing dictatorship...democracy!

As you may imagine, those same forces, and their allies in the US have condemned the film, and continue to try to destabilise the country. There are many claims about factual errors, editing choices and the like that can be found on the internet, but these are all rebutted in Rod Stoneman's (the executive producer) book on the subject. At the end of the day, whatever the claims and counter claims, the film very clearly shows how the old political elite, the business leaders and the media conspired to stage a coup (using footage from their OWN television shows!).

Watch it and make your mind up

Roger & Me (1989)

A landmark documentary

[10/10 · 12 December 2013]

In case you're not aware, Roger and Me faced significant controversy from essentially political opponents, but also some scholars. Moore was charged with selective editing, shifting time relations (so that events seemed to follow one another when they didn't in reality) and so on. It is, however, a bit of an unfair charge, not least because these are frequently used strategies of narration.

As it happens, Moore's interwoven personal narrative of his home town is ripe for such explication, not least because the film is very clearly a very personal project. While Moore is clearly a key protagonist, his presence really does enhance the affectiveness of the film. While the precise sequence of events has indeed been tinkered with, this often happens not just for political affect but also narrative coherence. Either way, what happened to Flint is, by any measure imaginable a human catastrophe, and Moore's capacity to relate this is as powerful as can be.