Blackout

A short, timely docu-drama made by Channel 4 and exploring a 'what if?' week in Britain in the event of a massive power cut leaving the country without electricity. BLACKOUT cleverly mixes in footage of the London riots with newly-shot, 'found footage' style material following a diverse group of people as they struggle to cope in the wake of a mini-apocalypse.

I've always found films exploring the breakdown of society interesting and this low-fi outing is no exception. The lack of any big name or recognisable stars gives it a documentary feel, and the acting is generally realistic for the most part. There's plenty of incident to keep you watching, and although the plot lines are of the most basic variety, I found myself enjoying the thing regardless.

This offers a realistic enough exploration of how events might unfold if the United Kingdom were to suffer a breakdown of its entire power grid. I don't remember any definite explanation for the blackout being given, although the speculation was that it was a cyber attack. Perhaps the most powerful point made was how truly vulnerable people (in the UK or presumably any Western nation) would be in similar circumstances as it just becomes increasingly difficult for even the most basic infrastructure to continue to function without electricity. Back in 2003, when the power grid in most of northeastern North America went down, I remember that I was driving in Toronto when that blackout started and we all started encountering traffic lights that weren't functioning. Drivers were first confused and then, as light after light was off, traffic became chaotic. Gas stations weren't operating, many stores were closed. And that blackout only lasted a couple of days at most. In this movie, the blackout lasts seven days, and the effect is more than just confusion and chaos as people become increasingly desperate and looting and other criminal acts start to get out of hand. So, basically, I liked the concept of this movie.

Unfortunately, for me, the story also just hits a major pet peeve for me: it depends too much on "found footage," and I'm simply finding that technique becoming tiresome. It's been overdone. It was an interesting and innovative way to make a movie at one time, but it's just been done too often, and I found myself wishing that this had just been a straight piece of drama. Granted that the film-makers made some interesting use of real news footage and blended that footage in, making it seem as if it were related to the blackout (including comments from former Prime Minister David Cameron.) But that's just a matter of personal preference on my part. I would still say that this was a decent enough portrayal of how things might play out in these circumstances. (5/10)

In 2006, National Geographic produced a fantastic speculative piece called American Blackout. Very insightful, very realistic and it raised a lot of questions most viewers had never thought of. This is almost exactly the same, except the British writers throw in the f bomb every other word. What dies it add to the story, guys? Absolutely nothing. Instead, the constant crudeness detracts from the messages of the film. Very very disappointing.

I first saw this on Youtube when it appeared on my Recommended For You List. I thought it was very engaging and it was shot in a documentary style. Most of the characters I identified with, because they were ordinary everyday people caught up in an impossible situation. In terms of realism, I can't really judge as things quickly deteriorated with people rioting and general anarchy - too quickly. All in all, it was well made

What would happen to UK society if a National Grid outage led to a week long power cut?

It's not Threads, but it's definitely an interesting what it, the impact on The UK, the people and very fabric of society itself. Post COVID pandemic, I'm watching it with a very different, open mind, that proved that nothing is certain, is it beyond belief? Who knows.

I'm glad I made a recording of this when it first went out, as I recently had some vague memories of it. It's a real shame that Channel 4 seems to have stopped with original dramas like these.

It's quite chilling at times, it ramps up as it moves on, and there are some unsettling scenes, not just David Cameron.

'Found footage' style was definitely all the rage back then, and it's good to see now, at the time, I was sick of it, something that was definitely overdone.

It's well acted, at the time I only recognised one face, a few are more familiar these days.

It's never going to have cult status, it's very unlikely to be remembered, but I'm glad I got to rewatch it.

6/10.