'The Bad Patriots' Movie Review: An Existential Dread Inducing Time With Ken Loach & Jeremy Corbyn

If you don’t belong to the upper class or even the upper middle class (which is apparently getting amalgamated with the upper class because of the growing economic divide), you probably don’t have the luxury to sit around and just take in everything that’s going on in the world anymore. I have the privilege to do that, and at least once a month, I try to just sit down and collate all the incidents that have somehow managed to hit the headlines. As soon as I do that, I start to spiral out because it’s bizarre seeing how many horrible things are happening simultaneously. There are entire populations that are being exterminated by the same people who cite historical incidents of genocide and say “never again.” The countries funding said extermination are also busy polarizing their own people, seemingly pushing them towards civil war. Unemployment is constantly on the rise, something that now seems like a deliberate attempt to keep what’s supposed to be the working class both subservient and agitated. As if that’s not enough, there’s climate change to contend with. And seeing people just go about their lives until one of these issues arrives at their doorsteps is maddening. Thankfully, once you see movies like The Bad Patriots, you understand that being frustrated by the normalization of the decay of mankind is totally normal.

The Bad Patriots, written and directed by Victor Fraga, is essentially an hour-long conversation between British politician Jeremy Corbyn and English filmmaker Ken Loach. Everything from their rise to fame to their ostracization from the mainstream has been covered in great detail—or at least in a way that’s accessible to the general public—by Fraga. But what’s really interesting about the film is that until Fraga actually sits down with Corbyn and Loach and starts talking with them, he actively tries to demonize the subject matter of his documentary. The genius of the tone that he uses to “critique” these two giants is that it’s like a Rorschach test. If you have followed their work and deeply admire them for their contributions, you’ll immediately be turned off. And with each passing second, you’ll start to realize that Fraga is also a fan. If you hate Corbyn and Loach though, you’ll enjoy that “critique,” and when you come to understand that Fraga is a fanboy of these two, you’ll probably be turned off. That said, even if you fall into that second category of viewers, Fraga is clearly hopeful that you’ll get something new out of this experience. Or at the very least you’ll start to reflect on how you talk about people who have dedicated their lives to amplifying the voices of ordinary folks.

Which brings us to the title of the film itself: The Bad Patriots. On every major national event that’s supposed to celebrate the achievements of a country, the topic of patriotism versus nationalism comes up. For the longest time, I thought that they were one and the same. But when I started to notice that self-proclaimed patriots were demonizing the people of their own country, specifically minorities, while being uncritical of the government that’s supposed to treat everyone equally, I felt that that’s not patriotism. A patriot will uphold the values of their country; they’ll be critical of its shortcomings, and in doing so, they’ll strive to make it better. A nationalist will ignore everything that’s wrong with the country, and overexaggerate anything that’s functional about its system, just to appear superior in front of other nations. No matter how critical I am about my country, I consider myself a patriot because I want my nation to be the very best. But patriots are nowadays branded as “anti-nationals” since all the incredibly loud nationalists think that highlighting what needs to be fixed about the land that we live in is an act of betrayal. So, yeah, it doesn’t come as a surprise that people like Loach and Corbyn have been sidelined; they are dangerous because they can prompt the ordinary public to ask the government how they’re utilizing all that tax money.

I won’t spoil all the topics that are covered in The Bad Patriots, because the movie is one long discussion, and it’ll be better if you listened to said discussion firsthand instead of reading my interpretation of it. The only thing that I will bring up is the discussion of the mainstream media. Like Loach says, most news channels are now in the hands of rich people, and those rich people don’t want these channels’ viewer base to learn who’s stabbing them in the back. So, they manipulate you, via the anchors, into thinking that your biggest enemy is your neighbor or some other country. Even if news channels aren’t totally in the hands of wealthy businessmen, they can still influence what is shown during primetime through advertisements. If media houses depend on advertisements, then they won’t serve the interests of their viewer base, and will instead prioritize the businesses that give them money. In addition to all that, the affluent class has a quid pro quo relationship with the government. Therefore, if the government wants to establish a narrative that benefits them, they’ll give those “media moguls” a call, and in return they’ll sanction some business deal that’s been stuck in limbo because of environmentalists or tribal bodies, and Bob’s your uncle. Which means that your perception of reality is being distorted so that you never understand what’s wrong with the system and how it needs to be fixed.

To be honest, The Bad Patriots induces existential dread in me because it is a stark reminder of the fact that humanity is on a downward slide and nobody is really bothered about stopping it. Those who are in charge have been given a timer for when the world will probably end, and instead of treating that as a wake-up call, they have decided to extract as much money as they can from this planet. They look at the term “point of no return” and refuse to take any corrective measures, because they see no point in doing that. They know that they have nowhere to go. They can talk all they want about colonizing the Moon or Mars, but that’s not happening in this lifetime, especially if we keep undermining science and focus on dividing the nation based on religion, caste, and race. That said, even though the capitalists and the money-hungry politicians want to make it seem like they are shameless, I think that they still do feel shame. And if they aren’t going to make our living conditions better, the least we can do is make theirs worse. We should take a page out of Loach and Corbyn’s books and be more critical of our surroundings and punch up harder than we ever have before. Even if that doesn’t remedy anything, at least the exercise will be cathartic and satisfying. Anyway, do give Fraga’s movie a watch; it’s crude, but it’s essential viewing for all.