The Battle of Orgreave Mike Figgis with Jeremy Deller

1. The Battle of OrgreaveMike Figgis with Jeremy Deller Lester Hughes Sam Mager Charlotte Green

2. Setting • The Britain of the 1970s early 80s is far removed from the country we live in today. • Life was much simpler; all working class people earned a certain wage, there were only 3 channels on television, children played outside whatever the weather, everyone knew their neighbours, and television stars had actual talent. • Before Margaret Thatcher came into power there was still such a thing as a job for life - people went into careers that their fathers and grandfathers had worked before them and they were in that job until retirement. • When Margaret Thatcher took power it changed; businesses were privatised, factories and industries started to close down, and no ones job was a certainty anymore. • In the new wave of greedy industrialism in the 1980s, places were closed down because it was cheaper to buy products and materials from abroad. • As you can imagine, there were many protestors, strikes were taking place up and down the country and the coal industry was hit extremely hard during this time. • The battle at Orgreave was a fundamental turning point in the country’s history, the government wanted to crush the strike force at all costs to send a message to the entire working class that they were in control and that strikes of any kind in the future would not betolerated. • This documentary ‘The Battle of Orgreave’ is a re-enactment of that days’ events.

3. Jeremy Deller • Artist Jeremy Deller received funding in 1991 to recreate the battle of Orgreave, which took place between the miners and the police on June 18th 1984. • Deller used a team of Historical battle re-enactment specialists headed by Howard Giles. Along with miners and policemen who were there on the actual day. • Jeremy Deller recreates the look and feel of the actual battle very well, however the participants knew that there was no real threat of violence. Despite stirring up memories, they had nothing at stake during the re enactment - whereas 25 years previously the miners had been fighting for their jobs, homes and pride. • During the re enactment we get to see a privileged view of both sides of the fence; the miners and the police. Some important shots that show this are when the cameras film behind the policemen’s shields as the miners attack; and when the police horses charge the strikers down.

4. John Corner • John Corner states that documentary is dramatised to fill in the gaps where there were no cameras and to communicate more effectively and excitedly to the audience. • He suggests the ‘realist play’ which is represented in this documentary through the use of ‘ordinary’ working class people. It also mixes narrative and fact as it has people talking to the camera in an interview style as narrative talking about the factual event. • He says that in the 80’s TV documentary expanded and documentary makers had ideas that were based on witnessed testimony that would make the documentary as close to the real event as possible.

5. His 4 key issues in relation to discussing dramatised documentary: • Refrentiality: This documentary is very close to the representation of real events as they have used people who were there on the actual day. • Representation: There is no conning involved in this documentary as the audience know from the start that it is a re-construction. • Manipulation: The documentary maker does not influence the audience either way to whether the police were in the right or whether the strikers were. • Thematic: The documentary maker may have decided on which bits to show the audience however he does not adopt a certain point of view, he stays un-biased.

6. Grierson – First Principals of Documentary Grierson argues that documentaries should be both Realistic and Dramatic. This is clearly represented in ‘The Battle of Orgreave’ as it is a re-enactment of an event that did occur and because the way in which Deller got the actors to participate made it dramatic. Realism: Grierson stated that ‘documentary would photograph the living scene and the living story’ and not be filmed in a studio with props. He also believed that ‘the original (or native) actor and the original (or native) story’ were better than interviewed actors. (Fowler, 2002; 40) They have integrated real pictures from the event to go with the filming. They have used people who were really there on the day. Drama: Grierson stated that he had ‘a desire to make a drama from the ordinary’ (Hardy, 1979; 59) This documentary contains visually effective scenes such as where the car is on fire and this in Griersons’ terms would emphasise the drama, however, there is a lot of cutting and interfering by the director which would take away from the realistic sense of the documentary.

7. Grierson – ‘The Creative Treatment of Actuality’ Grierson stated that a documentary maker should ‘pass from the plain…descriptions of natural material, to arrangements, rearrangements and creative shapings of it’. (Fowler, 2002; 40) Here are some ways in which a documentary maker can shape his documentaries: • Mise en Scene: long shots during the filming of the miners talking about what they remember from the day shows honesty shot from the floor shows vastness of approaching side(20mins) long shot from side of battle shows the confrontation and the drama when miners and police collide • Sound: Some music during the shots but they don’t interfere with what’s going on • Atmospheric Sound: banging etc brass band drum beats and snare drum songs – ‘Miners United’ • Narrative: writing at the beginning interview type shots

8. Vertov “We declare the old films, based on the romance, theatrical films, and the like, leprous, keep away from them! Keep your eyes off them! They’re mortally dangerous-contagious! (Stam 2000; p44) • Vertov wrote the above as part of his manifesto, he believed you should strive for kino Pravda- or cinema truth, he also believed a camera should be hidden away from view to get a more natural result from his subjects on film. • The very nature of the documentary we have seen wouldn’t have allowed for hidden cameras to capture natural reactions. • Had this been a group of lads gathering together as a hobby to re enact a battle, as the professional historical re enactment groups do up and down the country every week- then you may have been able to secretly film them during their mock battles. • However the very reason the film was made in the first place was to capture interviews of both sides, the build up, and the actual battle itself from all angles- and all this had to be carefully planned out beforehand with permissions from all parties. • So by default it would be impossible to adhere to Vertov’s ideals and manifesto, and get the same results we saw on screen.

9. Brian Winston's Reconstruction Continuum Non Intervention • Permission • Delays and Repetitions • Re-enactments of witnessed action • Re-enactments of history • Re-enactment of the typical • Re-enactment of the possible • Acting witnessed history • Acting Total Intervention Witness Imagination

10. Bill Nichols - Modes Of Representation ‘The Battle of Orgreave’ falls predominantly within Stella Bruzzi’s fifth mode: • The director and the crew interact heavily with the actors used in the documentary. • The Director and the crew comment heavily on the making, including on the actors roles. Including having to change some of the roles of people who had been there at the actual event, rather then keeping solely to the roles they had played in the real event. • The documentary is aimed at highlighting the people who were heavily influenced by the closure of the coal pit. Rather then focusing solely on the historical records. • There is a strong narrative that runs through the story which the director and the crew never bring to a final conclusion leaving it up to the viewer

11. However it also bears a striking resemblance to the Participatory (or Interactive) mode formulated by Bill Nichols: • As previously stated there is a high level of interaction between the subject and the director and the crew • There is a high amount of on location shooting, some of which is done with handheld cameras • The direct sound recordings taken while filming are used • The director and the crew are visible to the audience

12. Points to Consider • The government were so determined to get the right result they called in British soldiers who were deployed in Gibraltar and put them in unmarked police uniforms. They trained special police units for weeks in riot tactics for the battle. They had M15 surveillance teams and phone taps on the strikers so they knew in advance of all their plans and could counter accordingly. • In 1991 South Yorkshire police paid out £500,000 of compensation to miners falsely arrested during the strike. • Even though this is modern history, and happened only 25 years ago, facts were reported wrongly on the news to give a biased view that the police were under attack-where in actual fact it was the other way around. • If what we read today in history books about the battle of Orgreave (a battle only 25 years ago) is inaccurate according to the people that were there on both sides of the fighting; doesn’t this mean we must view all our history books with some kind of suspicion? Is every battle ever taken place littered with half truths and inconsistencies? As Tony Ben pointed out in the documentary “in War the first casualty is the truth”.

13. What do you think?

14. Bibliography • Corner, John, The Art of Record: A Critical Introduction to Documentary Manchester University Press, 1996, pp 31-43 • Fowler, Catherine (ed.), 2002, The European Cinema Reader, Routledge, London • Hardy, Forsyth, 1979, John Grierson: A Documentary Biography, Faber & Faber, London • Nichols, Bill Representing reality : issues and concepts in documentary Indiana University Press, c1991, pp 107-137 • Nichols, Bill Representing reality : issues and concepts in documentary Indiana University Press, c1991, pp 32-76 • Stam, Robert, 2000, Film theory : an introduction, Blackwell Publishers, Malden • Winston, Brian Lies, Damn Lies and Documentaries, BFI, 2000 pp 115-137 Images: www.shotgun-review.com/images/j.deller.jpg http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2008/oct/16/friezeartfair-art?picture=338629690 http://www.treehugger.com/2009/09/06-week/