There’s a protocol you can count on to follow a public disaster in this country. It tends to begin with a years’ long and expensive inquiry, and end with little change and none of the responsible parties being held to account. Some, if they’re lucky, may even find themselves elevated to the House of Lords.
That establishment playbook is in operation again in this poignant, winding and righteously angry documentary about the Grenfell tower fire – just as it was in ITV’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office or Disney+’s 7/7 drama Suspect.
Directed with forensic skill and lots of compassion by first-timer Olaide Sadiq, Grenfell: Uncovered holds the survivors of the fire in one hand, honouring their anger and grief in moving interviews, while using the other to slap down the many companies and governmental bodies whose decisions led to the loss of 72 lives on the night of June 14, 2017.
The title, of course, has a poignant double meaning. The aluminium cladding applied to the residential tower block for aesthetic reasons – supposedly to satisfy Grenfell’s well-heeled neighbours in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea – turned a small kitchen fire into a building-wide inferno, transforming the Fire Brigade’s ‘stay put’ policy into a death sentence for residents.
This is a poignant, winding and righteously angry documentary
Sadiq pieces the night of the fire back together using audio from the emergency services, news footage, and the shakycam videos of locals. The shock and dawning horror of disembodied voices as the blaze takes hold stays with you.
The list of guilty parties is long – from David Cameron’s deregulation craze, to the deeply cynical cladding manufacturers, to the cost and corner-cutting of local government, and beyond – and even on that roll of dishonour ex-housing minister Eric Pickles (now Lord Pickles) is especially odious: telling the Grenfell inquiry not to ‘waste his time’ and confusing the death toll with Hillsborough.
Campaigning housing journalist Peter Apps, heartbroken firefighter David Badillo, and a host of Grenfell residents, including teenage survivor Luana Gomes, bring humanity and heart to the story.
There’s so much in Grenfell: Uncovered about the state of modern Britain that Sadiq does brilliantly not to get sidetracked. About how working-class communities are talked down to and ignored. About how capitalism pursues profit even at the expense of endangering lives. About how the urgent need for change is stymied and sapped by the very review process designed to expedite it.
If it doesn’t leave you furious, you’re not paying attention.
Streaming on Netflix now.
Grenfell: Uncovered interview: ‘This community lost so much and got so little back’