Undercover: Exposing the Far Right

There's only one other review of this (IMO) excellent documentary on IMDB currently, hopefully this one will provide a tad of counterbalance.

I was aware of Hope Not Hate prior to watching this, but only on the limited level that they are an anti-fascist organisation. I had no idea that as well as highlighting and campaigning against bigotry and racism, they also place themselves in the uncomfortable situation of infiltrating organisations peddling such views to highlight the bits they leave out of the public soundbites and reveal how deranged and dangerous the people within them actually are. They succeed on this.

This documentary style is fairly standard fare, but the content conveys exactly what is needed and the arc and chase to potentially highlight the rich funder of an underground modern day eugenics organisation (tenner if you can guess which race they favour!) is quite thrilling.

The Hope Not Hate team are heroes in my eyes.

A brave and authentic investigation into the dangers of the far-right through the undercover work of Hope not Hate.

Filmed over many months with exclusive access to this organization that gathers information about the far right. This film lifts the lid on some of the extreme views the far right hold and that they would rather that the general public were not aware of.

A timely and vital piece that should be seen far and wide. Much of it is shot undercover as senior members of the far right movement show their true colors. From the award-winning documentary director, Havana Marking, originally screened on C4.

It was reasonably put together for the first half, but quite quickly started to fall apart. It seems to draw in countless elements such as British Fascism from the 1920s, British nationalism from the 1970s, social disorder from contemporary times, 'race science' enthusiasts from the same period, Tommy Robinson, far-Right political groups, a nod to Hitler's SS etc etc and in the end, apart from the emotivism, one is left with a jumbled mess. The danger seems to be 'everywhere' and everything the filmmakers shine their camera or their outrage archeology archive footage researcher on. The lack of focus, the lack of a consistent underlying argument meant it will be quickly forgotten.

This is a remarkable film, following for the first time the young undercover "operatives" from Hope Not Hate that infiltrate far right racist groups to monitor and expose them. They have the earnest intent of charity geeks, but using all the tools of spy thrillers, and putting their lives very clearly at risk. There's no bravado here - these are very likeable characters, the hope in the face of race riots and death threats that hang over the film. There's a satisfying exposé of repellant advocates for race scientists (no spoilers), all in all making a very compelling film. It seems insanely cowardly that the London film festival apparently backed out of showing this - for fear of the thugs - but do watch at home - they deserve eyes on their important work.

Love the way the doc is led by the journalists sharing their skills with each other and us. As the undercover journey throws up moments of uninhibited misogyny and racism, the film drops in the motivation behind each member of the team's commitment to Hope not Hate. Their personal stories pepper the thrilling unfolding narrative. They are diverse voices that reinforce the breadth of opposition to violent far right hatred. Their humanity emphasises the narrow mindedness of the fascist groups they are exposing and diminishes their posturing.

This gripping filmmaking shows in real time what positive action looks like.