Rich Hall's California Stars

Rich Hall opens this film by introducing California as a place of superlatives before asking the question then how such a place could produce someone like Miley Cyrus; he will come back to her a second time in the film and it is a shame because California Stars is a much better film than this link suggests – because this is not about her and indeed it is not even really about the present manifestation of Californians at all. Instead this film is another in the series of BBC4 films where Rich Hall explores a part of the US and discusses the way it is as a place and ponders on the factors in its formation that may have made it that way. He has done it before with parts of the US and also parts of US culture and, in case you do not know Rich Hall, you should not brace yourself for something dry just because you saw the words 'BBC4' and 'discuss' in there.

In the style of the other films, Hall doesn't propose to give a detailed or extensive history of his subject, and his film, while documentary in nature, is not really a documentary in the way you would expect (particularly from BBC4). The style is much more like a dissertation; a discursive proposal on and around the subject – generally building a case or picture but not worrying every single little detail. This is not to suggest though that the film is not filled with history and things many (including myself) will not know, because it is well researched and thoughtful, fitting together in a way that is much, much sharper than the gently rambling style of Hall would suggest. It does have a few off- notes when it starts to get up-to-date, but the vast majority is on- point.

Some of Hall's films for BBC4 can be quite hard to find once they have been screened and gone from the BBC I-Player, but as with most of them, this one is very much worth catching while it is still easily available (at least within the UK). My hope is that BBC4 do eventually release them in some form as a package, because Hall is building a very impressive series here.

The point about RICH HALL'S California STARS is that the content should be separated from its form. As a narrator/ presenter/ writer, Hall cuts an imposing presence as he tells the tale of the state of California from its origins in the mid-nineteenth century to its current status as a state of plenty that remains heavily in financial debt.

Hall himself has an ambivalent attitude towards his material. While admiring the sheer guts of many of those who have achieved success in the state, he is particularly censorious on those who have achieved wealth at others' expense. Hence he castigates "The Associates," that group of four chancers in the mid-nineteenth century who became fabulously wealthy by building the railroad across the United States. The fact that no one really thought what to do when it was finished was conveniently overlooked. Likewise Hall does not like those residents of Silicon Valley who plagiarize others' ideas and become fabulously rich as a result: Steve Jobs comes across as a ruthless go-getter with little regard for humankind in the pursuit of money.

On the other hand Hall admires those who have had sufficient guts to stand up for themselves against a repressive government, whether local or national. He waxes lyrical about the Beats of the late Fifties, or the hippies a decade later, or the learners of the University of California who stood up to the National Guard. Singer/ songwriters like Woody Guthrie or the Eagles are commended, as are the more localized musical traditions that grew up around Bakersfield.

For Hall California remains an enigmatic state, one committed more to image than truth, financial gain and exploitation rather than community values; but at the same time harboring a fierce optimism and belief in human potential that renders it irresistible to outsiders and locals alike.

Sometimes his rhetoric becomes a little wearing, especially when he addresses a vituperative monologue direct to camera, but as an introduction to the state's history as well as a summary of its current position in contemporary American cultures, RICH HALL'S California STARS cannot be bettered.