In 2005 the UK held a national election to decide upon the Government for the next four years. This occurred against a backdrop of the Iraq invasion (see my politics coming through there?) and was supposed to be the mandate of the people on that issue as much as anything else. To me it seemed that Labour were banking on there being no real alternative and I think they were right to do so as the Tories were not strong enough to overcome the caricatures and history they had behind them in the eyes of the public and so it was they swept to victory. It is in no way a spoiler to say that it was not a totally easy ride and this film focuses on one of the hardest seats that of Bethnal Green.
With a large Muslim population, it was always going to be hard for mixed-race Labour candidate Oona King to win but when the Respect party brought out the big guns in George Galloway, it became a campaign beset with tussles and scraps. This film is therefore a bit of good fortune as well as planning because it has good access to King during this period. I should perhaps put my politics up front here by saying that, while I like the debating power of Galloway, I personally would have voted for King had I been registered in Bethnal Green I would probably have voted for King despite her vote in support of the war.
Thanks to their lifelong friendship, director Meyer probably gets closer to King than other filmmakers may have done and it is a bit frustrating that she doesn't make more of it. Here and there we get real insight but it is not apparent that it their relationship is what has brought this out. I speak of course of the specific moment that Oona discusses the move to war and seems to justify it by saying that a man like Bush (she holds back on calling him "mentally retarded") is never going to take the required action in the middle east unless he "owes it to Blair". It is a shocking moment of honesty and it is a crack that I would like to have seen exposed. Sadly Meyer spends most of her time on the campaign trail a few steps behind King and she doesn't get a lot of time to probe (or if she did then it does not come across here). It is a shame because King is a good politician and comes across as such here her comments only reveal that she lives in the "real" world of global politics and not just chasing votes (although she is doing that too).
Meyer doesn't help her subject come over as she is. Her narration is flat and lifeless like she was hired in for the job but not really involved. I had read that this film produced a conflict between the friends but it is not evident here and actually it is King that come off looking best. She is open and chatty and displaying many of the characteristics that make me admire her as a politician. There is that edge of her toeing the party line but the film doesn't explore this, which may mean it is not there or that Meyer cannot get to it. Either way King does work well despite the constant camera; OK she does the tricks and such that our political game requires but she does seem natural and convinced me that she is more or less the same person when the cameras are off which few politicians manage. The campaign itself keeps the film interesting but one cannot shake the feeling that Meyer was not the right person to make this film and that she did get it off the back of her friendship rather than her ability.
The resulting film is interesting as an insight onto the campaign trail but, given the context and complexity of the 2005 Bethnal Green campaign the film should have been much more detailed. With King the film has a subject that offers honesty but yet an awareness of the political game but Meyer cannot draw the best from this and the film, while interesting, never is as good as it feels it could have been.
With a large Muslim population, it was always going to be hard for mixed-race Labour candidate Oona King to win but when the Respect party brought out the big guns in George Galloway, it became a campaign beset with tussles and scraps. This film is therefore a bit of good fortune as well as planning because it has good access to King during this period. I should perhaps put my politics up front here by saying that, while I like the debating power of Galloway, I personally would have voted for King had I been registered in Bethnal Green I would probably have voted for King despite her vote in support of the war.
Thanks to their lifelong friendship, director Meyer probably gets closer to King than other filmmakers may have done and it is a bit frustrating that she doesn't make more of it. Here and there we get real insight but it is not apparent that it their relationship is what has brought this out. I speak of course of the specific moment that Oona discusses the move to war and seems to justify it by saying that a man like Bush (she holds back on calling him "mentally retarded") is never going to take the required action in the middle east unless he "owes it to Blair". It is a shocking moment of honesty and it is a crack that I would like to have seen exposed. Sadly Meyer spends most of her time on the campaign trail a few steps behind King and she doesn't get a lot of time to probe (or if she did then it does not come across here). It is a shame because King is a good politician and comes across as such here her comments only reveal that she lives in the "real" world of global politics and not just chasing votes (although she is doing that too).
Meyer doesn't help her subject come over as she is. Her narration is flat and lifeless like she was hired in for the job but not really involved. I had read that this film produced a conflict between the friends but it is not evident here and actually it is King that come off looking best. She is open and chatty and displaying many of the characteristics that make me admire her as a politician. There is that edge of her toeing the party line but the film doesn't explore this, which may mean it is not there or that Meyer cannot get to it. Either way King does work well despite the constant camera; OK she does the tricks and such that our political game requires but she does seem natural and convinced me that she is more or less the same person when the cameras are off which few politicians manage. The campaign itself keeps the film interesting but one cannot shake the feeling that Meyer was not the right person to make this film and that she did get it off the back of her friendship rather than her ability.
The resulting film is interesting as an insight onto the campaign trail but, given the context and complexity of the 2005 Bethnal Green campaign the film should have been much more detailed. With King the film has a subject that offers honesty but yet an awareness of the political game but Meyer cannot draw the best from this and the film, while interesting, never is as good as it feels it could have been.
