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https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/oct/22/undercover-exposing-the-far-right-review-the-bravest-documentary-of-the-year-so-far>
"Some good documentaries feel as if they land in their director’s lap.
Icarus, from 2017, seemed to luck out when doping in cycling became an
international scandal midway through production; 2022’s
Navalny included the
Russian government’s brutal targeting of Vladimir Putin’s political rival.
Although these were riveting films, there was a sense that they happened to be
in the right place at the right time with a camera. In the case of
Undercover:
Exposing the Far Right, cameras were running during an extremely eventful 10
months for Britain, which climaxed with the race riots this summer, providing a
cinematic final act. But Havana Marking’s film isn’t just a good documentary –
it’s a great one.
Over 90 minutes, it follows investigators from the organisation Hope Not Hate
as they track down far-right extremists. At first, this seems like an
unnecessary endeavour: social media feels flooded with the “alt-right”
broadcasting their views. The race rioters in Britain – and in the US at
Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 and the Capitol in 2021 – weren’t exactly
trying to conceal themselves. But as it continues, the importance of their work
becomes increasingly evident.
Marking, best known for the 2009 Sundance winner
Afghan Star, focuses on two
heroic figures from Hope Not Hate. Patrik Hermansson is a senior researcher who
infiltrated the fascists at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in
2017, at which about 50 people were injured and the counterprotester Heather
Heyer was killed. Here, he acts as a handler of sorts for Harry Shukman, a
journalist who is “very interested in the far right”, but has never before used
a hidden camera. Shukman operates as an audience surrogate, with the more
seasoned members of the team, led by Nick Lowles, Hope Not Hate’s founder,
explaining to him the strategy and significance of their mission.
It is nail-biting work; Shukman and Hermansson frequently feel in extreme
danger when a hidden camera could be detected or a slip of the tongue could
expose them. We learn that these groups are aware they are being infiltrated,
although they don’t know by whom.
But much like Laurence Fox on X, piling up libel lawsuit after libel lawsuit,
these people seem incapable of shutting up. Nick Scanlon, Britain First’s
candidate for London mayor in May, uses just about every slur for Black people
during a brief conversation with a relative stranger, recorded on a hidden
camera. The activist Erik Ahrens praises the SS as “the elites”. The academic
Emil Kirkegaard spouts eugenics talking points with a side of fixation on penis
size. Even the “respectable” face of the movement, Cambridge-educated Matt
Archer, is surprisingly indiscreet when it comes to the goals of the Human
Diversity Foundation, which is funded in secret.
The eventual revelation of who is handing over the cash for the foundation is a
gorgeous moment of triumph for the team – and one of the film’s funniest
moments. When Shukman returns to spill the beans to Hermansson and says: “You
would never guess who it is,” he is not exaggerating."
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
