Rating: 
Summary: Oops!
Review: Talk about bad timing -- mere weeks after this encomium to the superiority of state socialism originally aired in Britain, the Berlin Wall fell, and we learned the full extent of that system's failure throughout Eastern Europe.
One of the film's delusions is that the Soviet Union was a prosperous nation able to lend reams of cash to the British government in the late '80s. As we see now, it wasn't even capable of propping up its own economy, let alone anybody else's.
Aside from the outmoded political vision, the film fails on artistic grounds as well. It's practically cartoonish in its depiction of good and bad guys. This results in flat cardboard characterizations, with mustache-twirling villains on one side, and stout-hearted heroes on the other. It completely lacks the subtlety and complexity of character and story that usually mark great British television such as "The House of Cards" and even "Yes, Minister."
Some say that the film's depictions of Americans as "bullies" and "prize fighters" is an indictment of the U.S. Maybe it says more about them than about us.
I can see why it got the juices flowing at the New Yorker and other liberal arbiters of cultural taste. It would be interesting to see how they would review this film if its politics were reversed. But anybody whose politics is to the right of Ralph Nader will find this film to be practically unwatchable.
Rating: 
Summary: Glad To See It On DVD
Review: This is a great movie, originally played in the US on PBS's "Masterpiece Theater" in the 1980's. It tells the story of Harry Perkins, a working-class politician and socialist, who is able to do the impossible and win a general election in Britain. Once he meets with his ministers, he is determined to stick with his campaign promises (a novel idea!) and reform the country for the better. He wants to push the US military out of Britain, disarm the country's nuclear arsenal, and stop the IMF from holding the British economy hostage by using Soviet economic aid. He is also a true democrat -- trying to make the work of the government as transparent and accountable as possible, and making sure the public knows what's going on. This brings Perkins a great deal of popularity, to the detriment of his Tory (and moderate Labour) opponents. But Perkins' Labour government is being undermined by the conservatives who run the media and government. There are many meetings in "smoke-filled rooms" by the media elite, who seem to closely mirror Rupert Murdoch (owner of Fox News and the New York Post). Even with help from the CIA, they initially can't find any dirt on the Prime Minister -- though Perkins' Foreign Minister is caught having an affair and forced to resign. Eventually, they find that the Prime Minister did have a brief affair in the 1970's, and they try to blackmail him into resigning. But there's a twist ending that I won't spoil in this review. The main character in this film reminds one of "Red Ken" Livingstone, the maverick leftist mayor of London. Livingstone was purged from the Labour Party by Tony Blair in 2000, only to be reinstated, because Blair's popularity is plummeting and Livingstone's is soaring. Seeing "A Very British Coup" is very much like seeing a documentary of what a Ken Livingstone would have to do in order to maintain his integrity in power. I highly recommend this film, and I'm very happy to finally see it out on DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Glad To See It On DVD
Review: This is a great movie, originally played in the US on PBS's "Masterpiece Theater" in the 1980's. It tells the story of Harry Perkins, a working-class politician and socialist, who is able to do the impossible and win a general election in Britain. Once he meets with his ministers, he is determined to stick with his campaign promises (a novel idea!) and reform the country for the better. He wants to push the US military out of Britain, disarm the country's nuclear arsenal, and stop the IMF from holding the British economy hostage by using Soviet economic aid. He is also a true democrat -- trying to make the work of the government as transparent and accountable as possible, and making sure the public knows what's going on. This brings Perkins a great deal of popularity, to the detriment of his Tory (and moderate Labour) opponents. But Perkins' Labour government is being undermined by the conservatives who run the media and government. There are many meetings in "smoke-filled rooms" by the media elite, who seem to closely mirror Rupert Murdoch (owner of Fox News and the New York Post). Even with help from the CIA, they initially can't find any dirt on the Prime Minister -- though Perkins' Foreign Minister is caught having an affair and forced to resign. Eventually, they find that the Prime Minister did have a brief affair in the 1970's, and they try to blackmail him into resigning. But there's a twist ending that I won't spoil in this review. The main character in this film reminds one of "Red Ken" Livingstone, the maverick leftist mayor of London. Livingstone was purged from the Labour Party by Tony Blair in 2000, only to be reinstated, because Blair's popularity is plummeting and Livingstone's is soaring. Seeing "A Very British Coup" is very much like seeing a documentary of what a Ken Livingstone would have to do in order to maintain his integrity in power. I highly recommend this film, and I'm very happy to finally see it out on DVD.
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