I AM currently enjoying Dominic Sandbrook’s colossal but immensely readable book which explores the early 1980s, Who Dares Wins; so the latest offering by the filmmaker Adam Curtis provided perfect companion viewing.
Shifty (all episodes now on iPlayer) is also a colossal undertaking, skilfully pulling together thousands of hours of footage from the BBC archives, to create a poignant mosaic of the social, political, and emotional landscape of Britain between 1980 and 2000.
The clips comprise a confusion of in-person interviews, news footage, talk shows, and adverts, interspersed with sparingly used subtitles with a font derivative of the default typeface of early camcorders. In common with other Curtis documentaries, it’s a muddle with a method. After just one episode, his views clearly emerge from the maelstrom of nostalgia, as he argues that today’s hyper-individualism was forged during these decades, due to governments’ ceding of national power to the private financial sphere.
Shifty is a lively and eclectic exploration of what life was like in the rubble of a crumbling empire. It’s the story of deindustrialisation, mass unemployment, rapidly shifting social norms, and the erosion of communities that had remained the same for generations.
The bias is predictably anti-Thatcherite, but since I hadn’t tuned in expecting political balance, this didn’t quell my fascination. Some of the clips are laugh-out-loud hilarious, depicting a world of queasy brown carpets and heinous haircuts, but there are also some shocking scenes of racism and intolerance which are ugly to see.
Curtis is a realist, unafraid to criticise that which he clearly abhors, nor too squeamish to depict grim reality. Despite the trauma of mass unemployment and the “greed is good” psychology of the period, Shifty is imbued with undercurrents of plucky optimism. Today, individualism might be de rigueur, but collectivism is not entirely dead. Shared humour is still, and clearly always was, a valuable British asset.
Underdogs (Disney+, last Friday) is an off-beat, comedic nature documentary, showcasing those members of the animal kingdom who are often overlooked by more conventional programmes. Narrated by the actor Ryan Reynolds, in characteristic style, this is a celebration of the cowardly, the mischievous, the pathetic, and the downright rubbish.
Our cast of weirdos are redeemed by one saving grace: they all have at least one superpower. There were some nightmarish horrors on parade, such as the mind-controlling jewel wasp, but my favourite by far was the imperturbable, undefeated champion of the savanna, Barry, the honey badger, whose battle with a pack of African hunting dogs is astonishing.
This is fresh and funny, with a soundtrack that includes songs by Billie Eilish and Green Day. If you have a teenage boy available to watch it with you, your enjoyment will be greatly enhanced, though be warned: contains sarcasm and fruity language.
