London: The Modern Babylon

Veteran U.K. director Julien Temple (The Filth and the Fury) creates an extraordinary portrait of London over the course of the 20th century, sculpted out of a mosaic of vintage clips, newsreels, British movie excerpts (especially Peeping Tom and Temple's own Absolute Beginners), and sound bytes from the likes of genuine East Ender Hetty Bowers (age 106), politician Tony Benn, 1950s jazz musicians George Melly and Psycho Gordon, and (in a stock clip) author Barbara Cartland. Their comments cover the evolution/transformation of the great world capital, from the Victorian-era seat of a global empire to a bomb-cratered target of the WWII Blitz; from a throne of royalty to a nexus of youth culture and artistic trendiness. Temple spends most of the running time on the last 40 years, zeroing in on the pendulum of banking boom and recent economic bust, periodic riots, and the arrival of waves of immigrants who have experienced success, exclusion, and poverty in the city. Given Temple's background in rock-and-roll rebellion, it should come as no surprise that the soundtrack pulses with life and anger (punk rock accompanies silent-era suffragette footage and the 1936 Battle of Cable Street, during which Londoners rose up against Oswald Mosley and his homegrown fascist political movement). The film ultimately argues that London's current ethnic diversity (300 separate languages are spoken) is not only a strength but also nothing new (and don't let the Tories and upper classes tell you different). Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)