The première episode of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror, The National Anthem, introduced us to a dark and twisted political thriller set in a very recognisable and contemporary world. With the prolific use of social media, information is disseminated faster than ever before, and life for the rich and powerful is in constant scrutiny by the public. Brooker’s blend of twisted humour, intense drama and intelligent satire certainly made for a thoroughly engaging and phenomenal, if disquieting, piece of television!
In the early hours of the morning, Prime Minister Michael Callow (Rory Kinnear) is woken with some disturbing news – Susannah, Duchess of Beaumont, has been abducted, and her kidnapper has a rather unusual demand. In exchange for the safe return of Princess Susannah, at 4pm precisely the Prime Minister must have sex live on television. With a pig.
Despite their best efforts to keep the news under control and out of the public eye, the government could feel their influence slipping... Within moments, the hostage video had gone viral, become a trending topic on Twitter, and news teams were biting at the bit to break the injunction. With the public's voice now more influential than it's own government's, the information was disseminated quicker than anyone could have anticipated, and the world came to a stand-still as running news coverage took the reigns, driving Callow into a corner.
With time running out, presented with very few alternatives and faced with the ever-changing opinions of the people, the Prime Minister is caught in a terrible dilemma...
The National Anthem felt predominantly like a political satire, with a great deal of the focus being shifted towards the public's opinion of the Prime Minister and his actions rather than the drama of abducted royalty. This was one of it's greatest elements, staying away from the plot of a rescue operation and concentrating on the human drama caught up in it. Providing an utterly superb performance as the tortured Prime Minister, Rory Kinnear captured the essence of a man torn, trapped in a no-win scenario,who ultimately loses the love of his wife and gains the sympathy of the nation...
However, at the core of the narrative lay the pitfalls of modern technology, in this case the 24-hour news and the virulent nature of social networking. The Prime Minister's every action was dictated by the opinion polls, the potential fallout from the public dependant on whatever action he did take, and by his ultimate desire not to lose all respectability in the eyes of the voters, knowing all too well that the world was watching. And that they were, in disturbingly familiar scenes of collective voyeurism... If anyone's ever had the misfortune of watching I'm a Celebrity with a group of people, certain elements of The National Anthem were not too dissimilar to watching how people react when watching a particularly unpleasant 'bush tucker trial' – a mix of disgust and glee, derived from the public humiliation of another.
In every respect, The National Anthem captured a great degree of truth, and despite the bizarre plot (a princess is kidnapped by a Turner prize-winning artist who demands that the Prime Minister have sex with a pig on live television) the sheer brilliance of Brooker's writing and the superb performance from the cast brought a considerable amount of credibility and gravity to what is actually quite a ridiculous and humorous premise. And here again lies a triumph of Brooker's work – despite it's more comedic (albeit macabre) elements, The National Anthem was nonetheless very dark and disturbing, and one of the most engaging and evoking dramas I have seen in some time! No matter how long I make this review, no amount of words could truly do Black Mirror justice!
Next week’s episode, 15 Million Merits, is a sarcastic look at our future - a dystopian world in which everyone is forced into a life of physical drudgery, and the only way to escape this existence is to enter a very familiar talent contest... I’m certainly looking forward to it!
If you missed Black Mirror, you’re bloody stupid. However, you can catch up on it on 4OD here.
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