Cruel Britannia lives up to its title. Some of these films hit hard, and are in the main suitable for both heterosexual and homosexual viewers, and any other category this wide flag of life offers us. I must state that I liked the concept of Cruel Britannia and that most of these short films rang true. Many are brutal and cruel in content, and a fair number of them are situated among the poorly educated ( endemic in the social system in the UK ) where a distinct amount of prejudice exists. A few films do deal with the so-called privileged and that is not very pretty either, but these people have less of an excuse and more hypocrisy. I am thinking of the posh chef in ' The Chef's Letter ' and in ' Spring ' where both intolerance and near to death Sadomasochism come into play ( specifically in ' Spring '. ) I could blame this on posh schools and their rituals, but then that is a fact that the British do not often admit to, or is it seen close-up by the under-privileged. Now for my favourites in order of preference. ' Downing ' a black comedy of revenge taken by a Gay young man on a dubiously Straight young man in a party from hell, followed by ' Diana ' which is both gruelling and hard edged with the politics of oppression, and the horrors of the world which surrounds individual oppression nakedly shown. It is both a short film and a bitter one. Third is ' Man and Boy ' one of the cruellest films I have ever seen, reeking of instinctive hatred born out of prejudice egged on by social media distortions and their consequences. Knowledge of ' Others ' is very sparse in this film, and in most of the rest in this collection. I also liked ' What are you looking at ? ' which was both revealing and enlightening, and comic in the best of ways. It takes place in a trapped lift where most of us should get caught from time to time so as to recognise the diversity of humanity. On the downside I found ' I Don't Care ' to be both badly acted and contrived and unconvincing. The same goes for ' Spring ' which went into areas of bodily abuse and possible destruction and despite recognising the truth of it I found it a dangerous film for the vulnerable to watch. Also there was little tenderness in the collection and the sexual scenes in the all too often British a way of being coy and unconvincing. A mixed bag, but one to reach into for each viewer to find their favourites. I have also avoided the saddest film which I found utterly believable and that was of the two lovers in ' We were one tide ', a truly beautiful short film that I sincerely wanted to be longer.
