Muscle Plex; Anarchism on film

 

I've found a list of Anarchist films on letterboxd. Well, to be more accurate, I found many lists with Anarchism and Anarchy in the title, but I like this one best. Most of the lists were about "Anarchic" as in screwball comedy. Once those were filtered out to include lists about the political and social definitions of Anarchism, there were still a lot of false positives. Many of these lists had interpreted Anarchism to be any form of vaguely radical political violence not obviously associated with the Far right. So, a lot of Soviet movies where the triumph of the Bolsheviks is the message of the movie and some that include the destruction of Anarchism as their plot, and Maoist agitprop. Or general political activism, which while no doubt interesting and educational don't have anything to say about Anarchism, and many have reformist "make the system work" messages. For an extreme example, several lists included the film Anarchy in the USA which despite the title is possibly the most anti-anarchist film ever made. It was made by the far right John Birch Society, and the film's content and aim is to popularise a conspiracy theory that the Communist Party of the United States of America, is in fact controlling the civil rights movement. But it has Anarchy in the title, so therefore it gets added to the list.

This list however seems to contain few false positives. Though it's hard to be a 100% sure since many of the films on that list are very difficult to find. I was able to track down two entries on the streaming service Plex, which I had not heard of, but my TV has built in. The films were Projekt A - A Journey to Anarchist Projects in Europe, and The Anarchist's Birthday. I've watched both of them, and they're very, very different films, but I've decided to make this a double feature.

Project A

Project A is a German language documentary released in 2016. Its subjects are a group of Anarchist projects around Europe. In Greece, Switzerland, Germany and Spain. The Anarchists interviewed are quite different in attitudes and activity. The Greek section mostly focuses on the squatting and alternative communities that have been established in the Athens district Exarchia. The film documents how locals handle decisions on how to restore and make use of an abandoned park. We also see how the Eurozone austerity crisis forced many to turn to a grassroots system of healthcare, in which Anarchists with medical skills administer prescriptions and check-ups and examinations. We also see community schools and day to day life on the streets. 

The Swiss segment is the lightest part of the film, it's a short coverage of an international gathering at St. Imier, with some short interviews with participants about what Anarchism means, though this segment presented a good opportunity for a shift to a short animated sequence explaining some of the history of the European Anarchist movement and the role of Switzerland in it. 

In Germany, there are two segments, the first is a sort of travel diary of a young German activist who is mainly focussed on working to block the transportation of uranium fuel and waste products through the countryside, and the second and final ending segment concerns the work of a Munich based agricultural collective called the Kartoffel Combinat, literally the Potato Combine. The Potato Combine is interesting as the narrator explains that none of the participants are Anarchists, or at least, they don't define their activity, their praxis, as Anarchist. It's included to make a point about content being more important than the label. 

Spain, or Catalunya since that's where all the footage and the participants come from, is broken up into several different Anarchist activities. The two main examples are the CGT union and a network that the subtitles called the CIC. There is also a brief interview with a member of the Indiginados movement who is in hiding from the police. The Indiginados movement was a populist response in Spain to austerity, which had some Anarchist participation, but it was politically diverse, inevitable considering it numbered in the millions in its peak, some would say incoherent, like the Occupy movement only the Indiginados were prepared to take more direct and confrontational action. And of course being filmed in Barcelona the CNT in the 1930s is also referenced. This is done by a short primer section with footage from the time and animations, the segment on the CGT also includes more information on this period as it follows a CGT member as he conducts tours of Barcelona. Regarding the Spanish Civil War I think it strikes a good balance, it overshadows Anarchism in general but especially so in Barcelona and its surroundings, so not acknowledging it would be a strange omission, but the focus is on the present day. I was a bit surprised that the current CNT didn't feature at all, though it's true that the CGT is the biggest of the syndicalist unions in Spain, though I think sadly the decision has more to do with the rifts and instability within the CNT or CNTs as there are multiple rivals competing over its legacy.

Of the two directions, I preferred the CGTs segment, I don't dislike the CICs portion, but the CGTs relevance to Anarchism was more pronounced, whereas the CIC was a collection of snippets following several members on various projects of different kinds and at different stages. Also being a network for community groups and co-operatives, some of the participants weren't Anarchists nor were they really interested in it. One of my favourite parts of the documentary was at one of the offices of the CIC, the two members the film has followed are giving a tour and a crypto bro approaches them and starts talking about this ATM he has for cryptocurrency, which the two members clearly know nothing about, they're letting him talk about the power of bitcoin et al., and when he's finished one of them just says "Well, that's not really a revolution, but I'm sure it will help". Then they just move past him and start talking about plans to reclaim some land for sustainable agriculture and eco-villages. 

Overall, I like the film. There are parts I think confuse more than clarify, but the nature of that type of documentary shooting means you're at the mercy of what happens on the day you're there. It covers a period that's underrepresented, the immediate aftermath to the 2008 financial crisis. There is a lot of content out there about this time period and beyond into the current year, but it's fragmented, mostly on isolated video channels, blogs and documentaries that seem to be allergic to having people watch them. Project A is an attempt to look at European Anarchism in a more substantial way, and it has had something of a push to be accessible. Plex in the UK is showing it free with ads and I found many entries about it on film databases and some German comments and reviews about it. It's still obscure but compared to say 2018s Kropotkin, a film so obscure not even the website of the director lists it in his projects section, it can be considered something of a box office smash.

The Anarchist's Birthday

2013s The Anarchist's Birthday is a very different kind of film. It's not a documentary, it's a fiction with a plot and characters. It's also one of those movies that can be described as a student film with some finances and access to professional actors. I don't know if that's the case, it's just the best way I can describe what the film looks like. I also don't mean that description as a criticism, it's clear that the crew have experience and the cast if they are amateurs don't commit any of the obvious giveaways. One of the actors, Daniel Lane the Anarchist whose enjoying his birthday has other credits, the rest of the cast I can only find a credit for this film.

As for the crew, this also appears to be the only film of the director Patrick Blake, who is also credited with the script. I think that's a shame, he handles this film pretty well considering the limitations. I like to play a game with my friends who enjoy films, coming up with more accurate titles for a film. For this film, I would change the name The Anarchist's Birthday for Folk who Bicker in a Field for a bit. There is an Anarchist and a birthday, but a lot more of the run time is dedicated to the characters struggling to accomplish their goals in a farmer's field and getting into friction with one another. I'm pleased there was an actual Anarchist in the film, in addition to all the filters I've listed there's one other that crops up quite a bit in fiction, a character who is called an Anarchist, or rarely a Nihilist, who is at most a bit quirky and a bit of a rebel when it comes to popular attitudes. Like the Punks these characters can be Anarchists, but they need more than a bit of an attitude towards authority figures. 

The plot of Anarchist Birthday is as follows, a farmer discovers a woman in his field, the woman is what we in the UK call a Rough Sleeper, which is the polite term for the homeless. The Farmer thinks she's a witch, and -it turns out he's right, so he does the obvious thing, reports the matter to the Church and request an official Witch-hunt. The hunt is organised by the Vicar, the Anarchist and another young man called Jay are forced to participate since they're both on community service. In the world of the film, Witches are accepted as real by the government, who have set up a qualification for clergy to be licensed as official Witch-hunters. The film is a comedy, but it's one of those subtle comedies where the humour comes from the setting and not through jokes. The scene where the Witch-hunt is organised is where the film makes its humour clear, it's extremely bureaucratic with the Vicar making sure everyone's paperwork is in order. There is no gearing up scene with a booming techno score with shiny guns filmed from multiple angles. There is technically speaking two action scenes, but they're defy the expectations of the label. 

I didn't laugh while watching the film, though some bits did strike me as clever. Once the film moves back to the field where the Witch is supposedly hiding it finds its stride. Essentially the plot can be summarised as the most inept and ill thought out exorcism ritual. Not one step of the plan, and there is a detailed step by step plan in accordance with government guidelines, is done with anything approaching expertise. The group just bumble along through the Vicars directions getting increasing fractious with each other. If you're wondering why I keep writing the Anarchist, Vicar, Farmer, etc, its because that's what those characters boil down too, they're supposed to be stand ins, they are given names, the Vicar checks them during the orientation chat before the hunt can commence, but they're not brought up much, I honestly keep forgetting them. The exceptions are Jay and his girlfriend Beyonce, they're names are brought up quite a bit, which is for the best because the Vicar and the Farmer represent authority and tradition, the Anarchist and the Witch the social rebels, Jay and Beyonce represent working class angst. They'd be called by the slur the Chavs under this theming. The film's blurb calss them "two local layabouts". Jay and Beyonce wear the typical, well stereotypical gear that marks people in this country as being on the lower rungs of the working class part of the ladder, and they do stereotypical things like have public shouting matches about their relationship and engage in recreational drugs. And of course Jay is doing community service, which is why he's in a field in the middle of nowhere.

Refreshingly though, the film doesn't demonise them for this, it doesn't have anything to say about their lifestyle beyond the relationship isn't healthy as it is and could do with some rebuilding. None of the characters could be mistaken for real people, though, fortunately none of them are so blunt as to go "I am the farmer and I believe in tradition" or "well, I am an Anarchist and I think that blah blah" its inbetween the two poles. There chats and arguments aren't conversations you'll hear in real life but they could be if written a different way. The Anarchist confirms he's an Anarchist by talking about direct action and living outside of a corrupt system in a fairly concise way and the flow of the film keeps his and the other characters lines from sounding like being addressed by someone on a soap box. I'm essentially describing everything that happens in the film and not doing a fantastic job of conveying the atmosphere very well. If I were a video reviewer the best case for the film I could make would be to upload it in full and just let you watch that.

Much of the film is shot with one camera, though some sequences do use multiple angles, and there are some effects work using exposure and lighting. Its clear that the people behind the camera know what they're doing and are working with a limited set of tools and options. As the credits rolled I found myself having positive feelings for the film. It does end on a positive pro Anarchism message, the Anarchist stands up to the authority of the Vicar and walks away from the hunt he never agreed with, and is going away with the Witch, and thanks to the magic of that Witch, Jay and Beyonce and the Farmer have changed for the better. So, while I had my doubts initially I think it belongs in a list of Anarchist films. 

Yes, the two women's roles are heavily attached to romantic partners, and the happy ending works thanks to literal magic, so it isn't a perfect masterpiece, but I've seen much worse films with a lot more backing, and if you have the time and are curious it couldn't hurt to give it a go.