As cinemas are roaring back into business with the oldies and goodies, White Riot is going to revisit the late 70’s and the Rock Against Racism movement which threatened many emerging talents from out of Britain. This documentary by Rubika Shah cuts to the chase very fast.
The 80 minute runtime is comprised more with archival material than new. We have, with no surprise, The Clash’s London Calling as the national anthem which begins this work, and this editor doesn’t hold back. We see how far the bigotry went. We even have mentions of Bowie and Eric Clapton, and how involved they got into this situation.
As a single watch is not enough to understand how reaching this protest went. The new interviews sheds light to how people see this poignant time when the National Front was on the rise. I’m glad this release is through on demand services, and for as long as the ticket allows–usually three days–I can absorb and try to make sense of all that went on. It’s best not to dwell too much about this time, but for any music historian who wants a clear view of what happened, this documentary is heavily recommended!
Available on http://www.filmswelike.com/films/white-riot
-Ed Sum
