The Moving Spotlight *
Directed and Produced by Ross Cameron
Reviewed by Woke A.F. for The Gordian.
I was expecting this new film by Cameron to be a politically and socially nuanced scrutiny of present privilege. I had hoped that, at last, we might have a work that would provide genuine insight into the experiences of those who live with this privilege: both those who live in what is known in the film as ‘the present’ and those who live in ‘the past’. I was expecting a vivid portrayal of life on both sides of the divide, and a textured understanding of what it feels like to be the beneficiary of that privilege, and what it feels like watch that privilege from the outside. Instead, this film plays into the same old, tired, stereotypes and narratives that we have come to expect. Those living in the past are largely portrayed as bloodless cyphers; practically abstract entities with no discernible properties. Only those in the present are depicted with full vigour, life and colour; with dreams and ambitions. Instead of asking why present privilege exists and how those living with it come to understand their situation, the film simply plays into the hands of those who take that privilege for granted, in its anodyne portrayal of those in the past and future. Saddest of all, many of those in the past were depicted as self-identifying as present. Yet the film completely fails to take seriously this self-identification. A very disappointing, regressive piece of filmmaking. One star.
