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UNITED KINGDOM! - "WORKING FOR THE ENEMY" Saturday 28/06/97, BBC2 reviewed by Jack Kibble-White |
August
2001
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I'm
49 years old. Leaving school I joined the RAF. Did five and a half years
in the RAF - engines. Came out and bought a barge on the river Humber.
Run barges for 15 years. Since then the business disintegrated, and so
did my life. Been waiting for death ever since. This may just be speculation: but I think The League of Gentlemen's "Pauline" sketches are - in part influenced by the United Kingdom! documentary "Working For The Enemy". Scratch that, I'm sure: one of the central protagonists of the inspirational Job Club scene from United Kingdom! even shares the same name as a peripheral character in Pauline's restart class. After all, there can't be that many Waddiloves (sic) in the world. If you didn't catch BBC2's documentary thread United Kingdom! that ran from 24 June to 11 July back in 1997, you missed a formidable series of revealing video diaries cum documentaries. The best of the lot was set in Hull and concerned "long time unemployed Kevin". Having left school in 1978, this remarkably prescient and self-aware character informed us that he had worked for only four weeks in the intervening years. The raison d'être for the entire programme was to allow Kevin the opportunity to articulate his beliefs that "the man who won't work is the man who won't give in" and to let a (presumably) largely unsympathetic audience honestly assess his stance. But there was a lot more to this documentary then simply exploring Kevin's political stance. It seemed more important to Kevin (and the documentary makers) that we were able to understand the lifestyle he had bought into. Together, with girlfriend Robbie (a seamstress earning a pittance - but glad for the money she gets), Kevin allowed us to view them both sober and intoxicated (either on good old fashioned beer, or - in one memorable scene: methadone). The couple's intrinsic likeability drew us into their plight and as we got to know them there was a lot of resonance for those of us who have spent a period of our lives in a similar financial position. The centrepiece of the documentary was Kev's participation in a Restart class. Forced to attend, the unwilling participants were eloquent in detailing their own situations as well as their abject disgust at being treated (as far as they were concerned) like children. In particular, Mr Waddilove (again) was frighteningly persuasive in depicting his own grim vision of the world: "This year there'll be less people working then there were last year. Next year there'll be even less people working. Machinery comes in - people are devalued. All we can get is 'throwaway slave' - and I don't fancy that one." Their course tutor's vain attempt to take the battle direct to the disenchanted provided scenes of amusement and profundity in equal measure. Whilst we will never grow tired of seeing "teachers" (in whatever capacity) being outsmarted by their pupils, it was difficult not to view his own circumstances as little removed from that of his dispirited pupils. Kevin's own contribution to the mêlée showed some personal sympathy ("I'm not getting at you, you're just a person standing there"), yet even he was unwilling to concede ground or facilitate the planned group activities. Amidst the desperation there was a lightness of touch to the documentary. Montages of Kev and Robbie cut to Oasis' She's Electric ensured that we were able to see the upside of their life and not just the disadvantages. The comedic highlight however, had to be Kev's mate's blatant attempts to pull Robbie (in front of Kev's amused eyes). The documentary had followed the trio through a drunken night out, seemingly alert to the impending fun. Kev's mate was an agreeable slimeball: waiting until Robbie was pissed before sidling up and attempting to engage in a moment of intimacy: "talk to me - about this song" (Neil Young's The Needle And The Damage Done was on the turntable) demonstrated tactics not out of place at a Freshers' night. Some mileage was made of the ensuing escalation as Kev grew tired of Robbie's drunken banter ("let's all act like twats then!" he rails at one point), but never truly at the expense of the central characters' dignity. So, a documentary that did not betray its subjects yet still proved genuinely revealing: something of a rarity these days. It is not an over exaggeration to describe it as - in its own, quiet way - one of the finest documentaries of the last decade. As a snapshot of "the state of the nation" it is unlikely to be repeated, however, for anyone who has an ounce of vim, vigour and compassion in their hearts, there is much about "Working For The Enemy" that should make you wish to seek it out. |
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