Midlands Review of REDt'BLUE
midlandsmovies • September 20, 2020
REDt’BLUE
Directed by Jay Martin
[Please note this review contains plot details and potential spoilers for the film]
In the 2017 general election, Mansfield, an ex-mining town which had been Labour for 94 years, voted Conservative. It was part of a massive political shift in working class areas across Britain, where a perfect storm of events meant that former labour strongholds were looking for an alternative.
Nottinghamshire-based filmmaker, Jay Martin, sets out to discover why the previously safe seat went to the Conservatives with this short documentary collecting interview footage with former miners and members of the local parliamentary system. The coal mines hang over this film, both as a form of context and as a physical presence. The collieries loom over the town, the economy of which has been devastated since the closure of the mines and fabric industries.
Mick Newton is the lynchpin of the film. An ex-miner and coalfields campaigner, he describes the impact of the miners strikes throughout the 1970’s and 80’s, and how these clashes with the Edward Heath and Thatcher governments cemented Labour’s hold over the area. These views are backed up by former miner Lee Anderson and local council candidate Cathryn Fletcher.
When Jay Martin starts to explore the shift from Labour to Conservative in the area, the talking heads change to the political candidates in the 2017 and 2019 general elections. The Brexit vote is key here, with UKIP campaigner Sid Pepper saying that the Conservative’s shift from Remain to Leave was a deciding factor in Mansfield (where over 70% of the population voted to leave the EU).
Conservative MP Benjamin Bradley comes under a large amount of criticism in the film. Having won the seat from Sir Alan Meale, who was the Labour MP from 1987 to 2017, he is accused in many of the interviews of using the Mansfield seat to bolster his own career. Allegations which he denies, although with no examination of his actions, it is difficult to gauge the reality of this.
Alan Meale, who doesn’t make an appearance here, is made to shoulder much of the blame for the loss in 2017. Most damning is the silence when Mick Newton is asked to name a positive change the former MP had made to the town. What becomes clear is that this is a town that felt abandoned by the status quo and whether voters genuinely felt that the Conservatives offered something different, or if they simply wanted to shake-up the longstanding Labour constituency, it was seismic shock to local politics.
The sting in the tail comes from Lee Anderson. Introduced at the start the film as an ex-miner, it’s later revealed that he is now the Conservative MP for the neighbouring town Ashfield. Having previously been a lifelong Labour member, the process of him questioning policies and then finally shifting his political allegiance was a clearly a difficult period of his life. It also shows that while we can look at events and circumstances, and argue the reasons behind these political shifts, the truth is often something much more complex.
REDt’BLUE achieves a lot in its short runtime. If nothing else, it’s a snapshot of a local community and their role in the wider political system. However, Jay Martin doesn’t leave himself enough time to draw any conclusions (however messy and uncertain they may be). At 23 minutes, this feels like a chapter in a bigger story, leaving the viewer with as many questions as answers.
Matthew Tilt
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