Undercover: Exposing the Far Right

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.

This is a watchable documentary that takes us on the (terrifying) journey of a group of Hope Not Hate investigators who go undercover with far right groups to find out what they actually say and share behind closed doors. Beautifully made and with a narrative that is clearly imparted. A vital documentary in these difficult times.

We are introduced to a number of journalists, and a number of far right activists, across the documentary, and what is terrifying is how indistinguishable they are - you could meet any of these men at any point and not immediately clock them as far right instigators with alarming views.

This compelling storyline of an undercover journalist gives a fascinating insight into the activities of the far right. The film uncovers the different fractions within it, exposing how the far right networks operate and are funded by multi-millionaires, the dark side of what the far right are up to behind the scenes and the front it presents to the public. This is a powerful and important film exposing the dangers of the far right but told with a very empathetic and human approach. It presents the importance of the peaceful anti-fascist demonstrations which are preventing the violence far right groups are trying to rally. A must watch.

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.

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.