Shadows on the Wall

2073

dir Asif Kapadia
scr Asif Kapadia, Tony Grisoni
prd Asif Kapadia, George Chignell
with Samantha Morton, Naomi Ackie, Hector Hewer, Maria Ressa, Carole Cadwalladr, Rana Ayyub, Ben Rhodes, Rahima Mahmut, George Monbiot, Silkie Carlo, Cori Crider, Nina Schick
release US 27.Dec.24,
UK 3.Jan.25
24/UK Film4 1h25

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Set up as a message from the future, this chilling documentary inventively uses present-day footage to explore the logical results of political and climate changes. Strikingly well shot and edited, the film's edgy, moody tone gets under the surface. Filmmaker Asif Kapadia combines haunting dramatised sequences with a range of reporting about how technology has drastically tilted the balance of power. Indeed, we're already living in a sci-fi movie.

It's been 37 years since "the event", when civilisation transformed. In North America's capital San Francisco, people struggle under totalitarian oppression, while the wealthy live increasingly lavish lifestyles. How did this happen? A woman (Morton) squatting in an abandoned shopping mall with a handful of off-grid survivors is piecing together the past, outlining how attitudes and opinions were commodified as unregulated technological advancements like artificial intelligence moulded attitudes and opinions. This allowed the rich to get richer, to the point where they could purchase political power and eliminate regulations that protected the wider populace.

Darkly dramatic scenes are intercut with images of the world as it is today, including landscapes and newsreels. Morton's character remembers her grandmother's stories about what happened, and has access to material she collected as she protested the slow creep of authoritarianism before she was arrested. Along the way, the film explores issues such as sophisticated government surveillance, cleverly weaving in the powerfully salient words of Malcolm X on the nature of tyranny.

In voiceovers and on-screen appearances, journalists and experts report on today's global political situation, noting that democracy is receding everywhere, while the most wealthy seize power by creating threats that don't actually exist, empowering populist leaders they can control. Meanwhile, tech companies are literally behaviour modification systems for sale to the highest bidder. These people care more about maintaining power amongst themselves than helping the common good. And they'll say or do anything to stay in control.

Important, urgent and very gloomy, the film essentially says we've passed various tipping points. Case studies from the Philippines, India, the UK, China and Uganda vividly demonstrate how the world is already travelling this road. And our only hope seems to be journalists who have the nerve to speak truth in the face of violent threats. Certainly no one else is trying to hold power to account. And it isn't overstatement to say that if we allow the billionaires to run the world, removing our free will in the process, humanity faces extinction.

themes, language, violence 26.Dec.24

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