British documentarian Adam Curtis returns with Shifty, a provocative examination of modern Britain.
The five-part series, which tracks the decline of Britain’s democracy, premiered on BBC iPlayer on 14 June, and is Curtis’s first major work since his critically-acclaimed Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone.
The documentary tackles what Curtis characterises as a fundamental shift in British society over the past four decades.
He said: “I made the series because I wanted to show the complex roots that have led to the widespread feeling of uncertainty and pessimism in Britain today.
“And the ever growing sense that most of those in charge whose job is to explain the world to us – politicians, journalists and other experts – also don’t have any real idea of how to deal with the growing problems.
“That they too have no idea of how to move to a better idea of the future.”
Curtis employs his signature narrative style in Shifty weaving together archive footage.
However, what sets it apart from his previous work, at least stylistically, is the omission of his characteristically hypnotic narration.
Curtis said: “I decided not to use my voice because as well as following the stories of what happened to power at a high level in Britain, I also wanted to chart how the way people thought and felt about the world also changed radically over the past 40 years.
“To put it simply, that there was a radical shift in consciousness in millions of people which then had a dramatic effect on how power works, or doesn’t work, in British society.
“To do that I wanted to show hundreds of moments captured on film and video that taken together showed that happening.
“If I had used my voice to commentate on that footage it would not only have been intrusive, it would also have been patronising to the people you were watching.
“I wanted the moments of peoples’ own lived experience to speak clearly for themselves.”
The timing of Shifty’s release is particularly poignant as Britain continues to grapple with political instability, social fragmentation and the weaponisation of cultural idenitity.
Curtis said: “I’ve got no idea what this present moment will lead to.
“I just wanted to show, as a journalist, the complex mix of forces that have led to it.
“Both how power moved at a high level, especially away from politics to finance, and also in the minds of millions of people.
“How that will play out in the future, no one really knows, but what I try and say in the films is that a new language is needed to allow people to understand the new kind of social order we have moved into.
“That will lead either to a new form of collectivism, which is what quite a few people seem to yearn for, possibly rather nostalgically, or to a genuinely radically different kind of society that will allow the individualism to develop even further.
“But I argue in the films that we cannot at this moment imagine what that will be because we don’t have the language to properly understand the reality of now.”
Curtis’ films always feature a plethora of archive footage and Shifty is no exception, but unlike his other films he drew almost exclusively from the BBC archive.
He said: “It is a tribute to the extraordinary role the BBC played during that period in recording what happened in all kinds of ways.
“There was a very small amount of other material that I used from other sources which we either paid for – but as I am sure you know iPlayer is UK only so the costs were relatively cheap – or in some cases was in the public domain.”
In an era of information overload, Curtis’s ability to combine complex and disparate historical narratives into a cohesive and informative piece of storytelling remains unmatched.
Neither Shifty or Curtis may provide definitive answers, but it offers something potentially more valuable, a framework for understanding how Britain became what it is as a society.
While the film is by no means an easy watch, with multiple narratives running in tandem, for viewers willing to engage with its challenging format and perspective, Shifty serves as both a mirror and a map, reflecting the current predicament while also charting possible paths forward.
To watch Shifty, visit the BBC iPlayer.
Featured image credit: Adam Curtis
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