MOCAŠ
MB Enthusiast
Just seen this extraordinary programme, which forms part of BBC4's "Justice" season.
BBC iPlayer - Outside the Court
The premise is a simple one: a series of vox pops taken outside Highbury Magistrate's Court with the programme maker, Marc Isaacs, asking those attending the court: why are you here?
Over the course of three months he managed to find an assortment of, erm, characters, each of whom has a hidden dimension to reveal: amongst others, there was the middle-aged cocaine user whose mumsy-looking wife said she'd also tried it once but preferred a nice drink; the former professional footballer who was there to support his drug-using son; and the ticket tout who protested his innocence while revealing he'd previously done time for 'robbery and tying-up'. Of course, there would have been many more who were not willing to speak or be filmed.
Most poignant of all was the story of Michel, an expat former tool-maker with France Energie nuclear research, who had lost his job when the operation was moved to the Far East; he had subsequently turned to drink and seen his life fall apart. Behind his ramshackle appearance there was a distinct Gallic charm and an intelligent mind, yet he considered himself worthless. As his penutlimate appearance on the programme came to a close, he became rather coy and said of the fact that he was being filmed: "I feel important now... but I am not important. I am a failure." No mere self-pity this, but the words of a man whose spirit had been broken.
The programme somehow put me in mind of the story behind Gavin Bryars' piece for tramp and orchestra, Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet, which has its origins in a 1970s documentary about the lives of people living rough near Waterloo station.
Michel's story in particular was also reminiscent of a Channel 4 Cutting Edge documentary following the life of Brian Davis, the Cambridge-educated former editor of the advertising industry magazine Campaign, who had been reuced to homelessness after succumbing to alcoholism and depression, and at the time of filming was relying on favours from family and friends to provide a roof over his head (although it seemed no-one was prepared to tolerate him for long). Towards the end of the programme it seemed Brian had turned a corner and was determined to put his life in order, when a black-screen caption revealed that he had fallen to his death from a hotel window. A tragic end to a life that had once shown such promise.
BBC iPlayer - Outside the Court
The premise is a simple one: a series of vox pops taken outside Highbury Magistrate's Court with the programme maker, Marc Isaacs, asking those attending the court: why are you here?
Over the course of three months he managed to find an assortment of, erm, characters, each of whom has a hidden dimension to reveal: amongst others, there was the middle-aged cocaine user whose mumsy-looking wife said she'd also tried it once but preferred a nice drink; the former professional footballer who was there to support his drug-using son; and the ticket tout who protested his innocence while revealing he'd previously done time for 'robbery and tying-up'. Of course, there would have been many more who were not willing to speak or be filmed.
Most poignant of all was the story of Michel, an expat former tool-maker with France Energie nuclear research, who had lost his job when the operation was moved to the Far East; he had subsequently turned to drink and seen his life fall apart. Behind his ramshackle appearance there was a distinct Gallic charm and an intelligent mind, yet he considered himself worthless. As his penutlimate appearance on the programme came to a close, he became rather coy and said of the fact that he was being filmed: "I feel important now... but I am not important. I am a failure." No mere self-pity this, but the words of a man whose spirit had been broken.
The programme somehow put me in mind of the story behind Gavin Bryars' piece for tramp and orchestra, Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet, which has its origins in a 1970s documentary about the lives of people living rough near Waterloo station.
Michel's story in particular was also reminiscent of a Channel 4 Cutting Edge documentary following the life of Brian Davis, the Cambridge-educated former editor of the advertising industry magazine Campaign, who had been reuced to homelessness after succumbing to alcoholism and depression, and at the time of filming was relying on favours from family and friends to provide a roof over his head (although it seemed no-one was prepared to tolerate him for long). Towards the end of the programme it seemed Brian had turned a corner and was determined to put his life in order, when a black-screen caption revealed that he had fallen to his death from a hotel window. A tragic end to a life that had once shown such promise.