The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer(1970)

It's always tempting to think that all of the developments we see around us, be they in society, technology or politics, for instance, are brand new and unique to our current age.  Yet, surprisingly often, we are jolted by some artefact from the past which reminds us that, in truth, there is nothing new under the sun.  Quite recently, for example, I finally watched the Peter cook-starring The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (1970)  all the way through, (I'd previously seen parts of it during its infrequent TV airings).  What struck me about the film was just how relevant to today that much of the film's story feels.  In essence, the film chronicles the rise of the titular Rimmer, an efficiency advisor to a run down advertising firm, first to the top of firm, which he modernises and turns into the UK's leading agency, then through politics, eventually becoming Prime Minister.  His methods are frequently cynical and dishonest, sometimes criminal, (he becomes PM after he ensures that this predecessor suffers a fatal 'accident).  Whilst they way in which he gets his agency to fake and massage its polling data in order to manipulate public opinion are clearly relevant to today's world, it is the political sections of the film that seem most contemporary.  Rimmer engineers his political rise through the practice of what we would now call 'populist' politics, presenting simplistic, but popular, 'solutions' to complex issues like immigration.

Indeed, the immigration thread of the movie, where he persuades the Tory Party to allow a right-wing old fogey of an MP to publicly air his extremist views on the issue, then disown and fire him, in order to whip up anti-immigrant sentiments, which they can then exploit at the forthcoming general election, echoes the Tory Party's real-life courting of the anti-immigration lobby in recent years, trying to capitalise on the racist agenda popularised by the likes of Nigel Farage.  It also echoes the way in which the Tories had similarly courted the anti-EU sentiment whipped up by the extreme right in order to secure electoral victory by promising an EU membership referendum, (which then backfired on them when our idiotic electorate voted to 'Leave').  In fact, referenda feature prominently in the film, with Rimmer making good on his promises to make the country more democratic by holding a referendum on every issue, thereby 'giving power back to the people'.  He knows, of course, that people will rapidly tire of being expected to have opinions on every obscure issue, allowing him to walk back the policy and institute a more autocratic form of  government in order to lift this 'burden' of decision making from the public.  

In many ways a prescient film - even the right-wing Tory MP's anti-immigration speech - which relies on citing an obviously false case of immigrants harassing an old lady 'locked in a lavatory' of the sort run nowadays by the right-wing media and championed by populist politicians and racists - seems startlingly contemporary.  Which begs the question, of course, of why The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer isn't better known and more widely referenced in current political and cultural discourse?  The fact is that the film was something of a flop on its release, mauled by critics and failing to find an audience.  Not because its message wasn't pertinent, even then, so much as the fact that, as a satirical comedy, it is somewhat hit-and-miss.  More miss, than hit, in truth.  In too many scenes the gags simply don't seem to land on target, missing their mark by varying degrees.  What should be laugh out loud funny is all too often merely mildly amusing.  A languid pace and a leading character is (deliberately) too bland to be either truly likeable or dislikeable doesn't help.  Too much of the satire of then contemporary political figures also tend to fall flat, the comedic blows never quite landing cleanly enough.  Perhaps fatally, the film's release was delayed until after the 1970 General Election, ensuring that its impact was minimised.  Nevertheless, seen today, what stands out still is the eerily accurate prediction of the direction of British politics, to our current lowest-common-denominator race to the bottom by our leaders in terms of policy, as they chase a mythical 'populist' vote and shape their policies via focus groups and polls rather than by principles.