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Illegal Immigrants And Proud review – a mean tone permeated this film about the ‘illegals’ Illegal Immigrants and Proud review – a mean tone permeated this film about the ‘illegals’
(about 4 hours later)
Back in January, Fergal Keane made a documentary entitled The Hidden World of Britain’s Immigrants for BBC2 about – well, the hidden world of Britain’s immigrants. It followed the story of a handful of people who had come to this country in the hope of finding a better life, only to find themselves unprotected, exploited and soon living on the streets that had not proved to be paved with gold, stealing and using drugs to get through the days, and battling both the pride and the red tape preventing them from going home.Back in January, Fergal Keane made a documentary entitled The Hidden World of Britain’s Immigrants for BBC2 about – well, the hidden world of Britain’s immigrants. It followed the story of a handful of people who had come to this country in the hope of finding a better life, only to find themselves unprotected, exploited and soon living on the streets that had not proved to be paved with gold, stealing and using drugs to get through the days, and battling both the pride and the red tape preventing them from going home.
Last night, Channel 5 told exactly the same story, just a bit … um … 5ed. This one went by the slightly less carefully-neutral title of Illegal Immigrants and Proud and included more sensationalist footage of the would-be “illegals”, as the narrator kept calling the people trying to cross the channel by chasing after lorries leaving Calais and trying to wedge themselves perilously behind cabs or axles without the police noticing and dragging them back to the migrant camps dotted around the port. Last night, Channel 5 told exactly the same story, just a bit … um … 5ed. This one went by the slightly less carefully neutral title of Illegal Immigrants and Proud and included more sensationalist footage of the would-be “illegals”, as the narrator kept calling the people trying to cross the channel by chasing after lorries leaving Calais and trying to wedge themselves perilously behind cabs or axles without the police noticing and dragging them back to the migrant camps dotted around the port.
“Alan”, born in Iraq, was 15 when he and a friend first tried stowing away under a lorry bound for the UK. They were both clinging on to an axle that suddenly started to rise into the base of the vehicle. Alan moved in time – his friend was crushed to death. But Alan is back now, and the dangers still seem worth it to him. “I don’t care if I die. If you die, you die one time and that is it.”“Alan”, born in Iraq, was 15 when he and a friend first tried stowing away under a lorry bound for the UK. They were both clinging on to an axle that suddenly started to rise into the base of the vehicle. Alan moved in time – his friend was crushed to death. But Alan is back now, and the dangers still seem worth it to him. “I don’t care if I die. If you die, you die one time and that is it.”
He is young, strong and – despite the daily fights for food and the lack of water and sanitation at the migrant camps dotted around the port– optimistic. Across the channel is a sadder vision of his future. Daljit Singh, known as Bobby, came to the UK from India 20 years ago, working illegally but hard and happily for the first decade. But doing building work unprotected by the regulations that shield legal employees has left him disabled and unable to continue. Now he spends his days in an endless cycle of, as he puts it “Steal, sell, smoke, steal, sell, smoke” and looking forward to his next spell in prison, where he’ll get three meals a day, a bed and Sky on TV. “People say, ‘Oh, freedom!’ but what is freedom, man? When I’m in prison it’s like I’m free. Out here, I’m in prison.”He is young, strong and – despite the daily fights for food and the lack of water and sanitation at the migrant camps dotted around the port– optimistic. Across the channel is a sadder vision of his future. Daljit Singh, known as Bobby, came to the UK from India 20 years ago, working illegally but hard and happily for the first decade. But doing building work unprotected by the regulations that shield legal employees has left him disabled and unable to continue. Now he spends his days in an endless cycle of, as he puts it “Steal, sell, smoke, steal, sell, smoke” and looking forward to his next spell in prison, where he’ll get three meals a day, a bed and Sky on TV. “People say, ‘Oh, freedom!’ but what is freedom, man? When I’m in prison it’s like I’m free. Out here, I’m in prison.”
He’s been trying to get sent back to India for three years but – as outlined in Keane’s film – he, like most illegal immigrants he destroyed his papers when he got here so that no one could prove he didn’t belong. Now he is effectively stateless. Homeless here, he can’t get home.He’s been trying to get sent back to India for three years but – as outlined in Keane’s film – he, like most illegal immigrants he destroyed his papers when he got here so that no one could prove he didn’t belong. Now he is effectively stateless. Homeless here, he can’t get home.
A meaner tone than Keane’s persisted throughout, aided by one trucker’s comment that the general opinion among drivers was that the migrant campers should be put on a boat and sunk at sea. A moral difference was implied between “illegals” such as Bobby (and Alan, who eventually made it to Liverpool) and “overstayers” like Harley Miller, an Australian woman with “a specialised NHS job for nine years” on which, we are assured, she paid tax, but who has outstayed her visa after her marriage to an EU citizen broke up.A meaner tone than Keane’s persisted throughout, aided by one trucker’s comment that the general opinion among drivers was that the migrant campers should be put on a boat and sunk at sea. A moral difference was implied between “illegals” such as Bobby (and Alan, who eventually made it to Liverpool) and “overstayers” like Harley Miller, an Australian woman with “a specialised NHS job for nine years” on which, we are assured, she paid tax, but who has outstayed her visa after her marriage to an EU citizen broke up.
Of course, the viewer was free – as always – to draw his or her own conclusions, allocate sympathy and make judgments about the different degrees of desperation and disadvantage probably experienced by white immigrants from a developed country and those flooding in from undeveloped and war-torn nations. But a programme that doesn’t at least touch on this issue leaves a bad taste in the mouth.Of course, the viewer was free – as always – to draw his or her own conclusions, allocate sympathy and make judgments about the different degrees of desperation and disadvantage probably experienced by white immigrants from a developed country and those flooding in from undeveloped and war-torn nations. But a programme that doesn’t at least touch on this issue leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
A much happier time was had by all in Scotland in a Day (Channel 4), written and created by comedian Jack Docherty. The format was a deliberate copy of the BBC’s landmark 2011 film Britain in a Day, a collage of life round Britain compiled from one 24-hour span, but the jokes were all its own. My own favourites were in the souvenir shop, which had all the Scottish greats from both sides of the debate on teatowels – Bonnie Prince Charlie, Rabbie Burns and Mel Gibson for the yeses, and for the nos, “Simon Towell. Duncan Bannatowel. JK Towelling.”A much happier time was had by all in Scotland in a Day (Channel 4), written and created by comedian Jack Docherty. The format was a deliberate copy of the BBC’s landmark 2011 film Britain in a Day, a collage of life round Britain compiled from one 24-hour span, but the jokes were all its own. My own favourites were in the souvenir shop, which had all the Scottish greats from both sides of the debate on teatowels – Bonnie Prince Charlie, Rabbie Burns and Mel Gibson for the yeses, and for the nos, “Simon Towell. Duncan Bannatowel. JK Towelling.”
Every holder of a McEquity card was in it. Douglas Henshall played a man desperately trying to get his pregnant wife over the border from England before she delivers their son – “The head’s out! Fuck, he even looks English! Push him back in … Well, how do you know until you’ve tried?” Elaine C Smith was the woman running the local polling station and spotting a felt-tipped “Jeremy Clarkson is a cu-” on the wall. “I mean, what’s that got to do with the referendum, eh?” she says, rubbing a cloth over it furiously. “Not in my centre! Even if it is true.” It was funny and warm and daft and funny again. Lang may your lum reek, all, no matter what result we’re all waking up to the morning after I write this.Every holder of a McEquity card was in it. Douglas Henshall played a man desperately trying to get his pregnant wife over the border from England before she delivers their son – “The head’s out! Fuck, he even looks English! Push him back in … Well, how do you know until you’ve tried?” Elaine C Smith was the woman running the local polling station and spotting a felt-tipped “Jeremy Clarkson is a cu-” on the wall. “I mean, what’s that got to do with the referendum, eh?” she says, rubbing a cloth over it furiously. “Not in my centre! Even if it is true.” It was funny and warm and daft and funny again. Lang may your lum reek, all, no matter what result we’re all waking up to the morning after I write this.