London; The Modern Babylon

A cinematic collage of the Social history and pop culture, interviews personal stories and historic public events in the city of London.

Initially starting with the beginning of motion picture, newsreel footage that shudders and jolts as it depicts the end of the 19th Century and moves in chronologically through the past by clips from various forms of medium including fragments of interviews, poems , songs and clips from archives.The imagery used from old and new media showing the journey from the Victorian British Empire to the Multicultural opportunistic capital.

London: The Modern Babylon is glorification of a multicultural city that has 37 per cent of the population are now born outside of the British Isles (Census 2011), there are said to be over 300 languages that are present. The movie doesn't just focus on the positives it draws focus onto the separations in society caused by social, political and economic implications. examples is the IRA bombings and race riots of brixton (1981). Through the history of London and which is an apparent theme in the film, Immigrants have injected London with a new lease of life and culture, changing the once conformed society to a melting pot full of a range of diversely rich expressionism. The film did also show the ugly side to immigration as racial tensions increased as a nationality immigrates into the capital.

Although the duration of the feature is 2hrs 8minutes it is able to capture the true essence of the past and modern day London. The fragmented style allows the film to sprawl and stretch across momentous chapters of London: WW1, WW2, the coronation and the current financial crash.

The most intriguing and for me the most valuable source of information was the stories and memories told through the interviews of past and present residents of London.