In the early hours of 14 June 2017, a high rise fire broke out in Grenfell Tower, North Kensington, taking 72 lives and eternally damaging the diverse and tight-knit community that once resided there. The tragedy sparked outrage amongst the nation and from there, a demand for justice began.
Eight years after the tragedy, Netflix have released a documentary about the horrific night of the Grenfell Tower fire, and the events that occurred before and after it took place, entitled Grenfell: Uncovered.
The documentary begins with a horrifying 999 call, in which a resident on the fourth floor desperately asks for help as the fire begins. This, paired with mobile phone videos of the fire, immediately plants the viewer right at the scene itself. The first scenes shift into explaining how those calling 999 were told, according to the ‘stay put’ rule, to stay exactly where they are, despite the fire building. A rule which ultimately failed them. First hand accounts feature prominently along with raw footage of the fire, suggesting that although, often being described in the documentary as being ‘like a disaster movie’, this happened to real people, in their own homes, in a country that prides itself on safety. The documentary excels in providing the viewer with visual evidence of the fact that people with families, jobs and lives were affected here, which is something that some other works struggle to do, making the victims feel like statistics. The victims are the narrators here.
Later, the documentary takes a political and scientific tone as members of the public and parliament join together to question those in power and hopefully change building regulations regarding fire safety. Netflix isn’t scared to criticise and question those that could have prevented the disaster from happening. For instance, following the Lakanal House fire in 2009, a coroner asked Brian Martin, a civil servant being placed to blame for the tragedy, to change the building regulations regarding fire safety for residents, in which he replied, ‘Where is the evidence? Show me the bodies.’ As well as this, the documentary allows members of the community to criticise ARCONIC, the very company that sold the flammable cladding to renovate Grenfell Tower, which shifts this documentary from being not only an intriguing watch, but a force for change and justice. The documentary delves into the scientific reasons as to why the fire spread so quickly, presenting the opportunity to hear from the experts, as well as seeing experiments take place on the very material that was used when renovating Grenfell Tower. This insight transforms the documentary into a crucially educational display of how vicious the fire was, and how this can never happen again, with the knowledge we have.
Grenfell: Uncovered, also highlights the efforts of the residents of Grenfell Tower on the night of the fire to come together as a community, right until the end. For instance, telling the story of Raymond Bernard, known as Moses, a 63-year-old man who lived on the top floor of the tower, who took in mothers and children who were escaping the flames below, and shielded them until the end. Stories like these prove inspiring, suggesting that even amongst the horror they endured that night, they found comfort in one another. After the tragic night, years of protest begin, as the surviving residents and their families feel the Kensington and Chelsea Council and the government, including Prime Minister at the time Theresa May, did not and do not care about what happened. They demand justice. They believe, as one resident states, “There was responsibility. This wasn’t an accident.” May is interviewed in the documentary and she claims to be regretful in her decision not to speak to the community immediately, instead wanting to ensure that the public services had everything they needed to deliver efficient aid to those affected, and did open a public inquiry in hopes of providing answers.
This is something the documentary does very well: it allows all people involved, from the survivors, local community, firefighters, journalists, members of parliament, the prime minister and even those whose lives were claimed by this horrendous tragedy, to have their voice heard and their story told.
In comparison to other documentaries about the tragedy, Grenfell: Uncovered tells the full story chronologically, in a way that is easy for all viewers to understand. This contrasts others, such as Grenfell: The Fire of London, produced by Sky News and released 8 days after the fire, which seems disorganised and lacks crucial information about the investigation because it hadn’t begun yet. Grenfell: Uncovered gives an in-depth explanation of not only the night itself but also the investigation that followed. It is because of this that other documentaries appear repetitive, as they tell the small amount of information they had at the time, over and over again. Also, because previous documentaries and news reports of the casualty were produced just days or weeks after the event, there is a lack of personal anecdotes about the event, as victims were still recovering at the time. Whereas in Netflix’s documentary, survivors and their families are able to tell their side of the story, having had 8 years to make a recovery and piece together what happened to them on that night.
Critics and audiences across nations hold the documentary highly, for instance one critic states “it enrages that so many who were responsible have never been brought to account” and another believes it’s “an acknowledgement of the lack of justice to date”, proving the documentary’s undeniable campaign for integrity and fairness for survivors and bringing justice for the families of those that sadly lost their lives. Audiences also praise Netflix for their ability to capture “the emotion of the hell the victims were trapped in”, one viewer states, suggesting that the upset caused by the disaster is transported from the directly affected right through to those watching at home, sparking further anger and shock that something so tragic could happen to innocent people in their own homes.
The Verdict
Overall, Grenfell: Uncovered serves as a much-needed outlet for families of victims and survivors to display their individual experience of the night, as well as giving their opinion on how the aftermath was handled. Moreover, viewers are able to follow the investigation into how the tragedy could have been prevented, positioning the documentary as a tool to stop any further tragedies of this nature happening again.
Words by Corey Rice.