A Review of ‘The Bad Patriots’: A stellar account of two Brit socialists bravely pushing their agenda
Two public Britons encounter much adversity when elucidating the common man’s plight.
‘The Bad Patriots’: A stellar account of two Brit socialists bravely pushing their agenda
Cast: Victor Fraga, Ken Loach, Jeremy Corbyn, Laura Avarez, Adrian Bracken (voice)
Critic’s Rating: 4 Stars out of 5
Director: Victor Fraga
Duration: 1 hour, 10 minutes
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Release: 2024
What’s it about?
Two public Britons encounter much adversity when elucidating the common man’s plight.
Review:
Here is an absorbing documentary about a couple of prolific celebrities in the UK who have been branded as Communists for championing the cause of the country’s working class. Their left-leaning approach and conscientious attempts to shake up the capitalistic establishment have been deemed as dangerously subversive, causing the media and government to come at them hammer and tongs. Now, British-Brazilian filmmaker Victor Fraga accords these two public figures - who have been mercilessly vilified, maligned and slandered - the chance to state their case and say their piece.
Producer-writer-director Fraga first introduces the audience to film-maker Ken Loach who has sixty films to his credit in a career spanning six decades. While Loach enjoyed a moderate amount of success and exposure with his fiction movies depicting socio-economic issues, it was his attempts at crafting politically-charged documentaries that landed him in hot water. He posits the reason for this dichotomy is that the British government is reluctant to recognise the blue collars as “organisers”. Thus, Loach recounts how the BBC chopped and changed one of his sincere attempts at non-fiction about disgruntled and under-represented steel workers, before eventually abandoning the project.
Fraga next shifts focus to Member of Parliament and Labour Party stalwart Jeremy Corbyn. While Corbyn encouraged effective dialogue to resolve the Irish Republican insurgency in the 1970s and ‘80s, the British Press nevertheless lambasted him as an “apologist for terrorism”. The fourth estate further smeared his reputation by branding him a spy for several socialist nations. This, the media did on the flimsy basis of his informals meetings with foreign diplomats/nationals and even his use of certain accessories that had been made in those countries! Such relentless tarnishing of Corbyn’s image proceeded to ruin his political aspirations.
Fraga then brings these two marginalised personalities together for a potent discussion. The moderator puts pertinent questions to the duo, eliciting many interesting responses and insights. These include Loach’s observation that the UK’s print media - from the Guardian to the Sun - is almost entirely controlled by the country’s upper crust who work hard not to unsettle the status quo. Corbyn adds that discord and hypocrisy within one’s party deters significant change, while he projects a grim future for the accessibility of the news media. However, the MP confirms that he is not in favour of banning the institution altogether. Corbyn then mulls the complex impact of the Russian Revolution of 1917 on Britain, while Loach considers how professionals in various fields could give politicians a run for their money.
Yes, there is much thought-provoking substance to this film which uses curious tactics to underscore the issues being tabled. These include interludes of Loach’s movies like I, Daniel Blake (2016) and the Cillian Murphy-starrer about the Irish War of Independence – The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006). Also interspersed in the narrative and conversation are interjections by a politically correct and authoritative voice (Adrian Bracken) that mocks, belittles and discredits Loach and Corbyn. These unsavoury intrusions could very well be experts from George Orwell’s 1984. If anything is lacking from this intriguing documentary, it would be the absence of actual voices and faces from the other side of the aisle. This film could have also benefited from more archive footage like protests and rioting in the UK as well as some supporting statistics. Regardless, The Bad Patriots in an enthralling meditation on the strange relationship between politics and the media and how the two need to reconcile for the progress of the community at large.
