190. New Town Utopia; movie review

NEW TOWN UTOPIA
Cert 15
81 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong language, sex references, drugs references

In the post-war era, new housing was seen as the solution to Britain's ills and so new towns popped up all over the country.
Slums were cleared and council housing was provided, alongside open spaces and there were jobs for all.
Many decades later, we are seeing the dismal results of such over-optimism.
Mrs W and I lived in Coventry which was not a new town but might well have been because it was almost completely rebuilt after the blitz.
We recognised many of the features of New Town Utopia which is centred on Basildon but could have been set in myriad towns or cities.
Christopher Ian Smith's documentary marries the words of Lewis Silkin (voiced by Jim Broadbent), the minister in charge of new towns development, with the reality of Basildon.
It begins with interviews with the older generation who moved with their parents from East End slums to this new paradise.
Of course, the latter now looks to us like a concrete jungle and Mr Silkin's prophesies sound naive - notably, the aim of the rich mixing with the poor in these new towns.
Much is made of the poor designs of Basildon but Smith's film also highlights the long-term lack of support for the infrastructure which would have encouraged sustainability.
New Town Utopia traces Basildon from the early days of full employment and buzzing shops and pubs to the run-down, crime-ridden estates of today.
It relates to the arts scenes and the attempts to allow it to flourish and then the erosion of public funding.
It also evidences bizarre decisions of the planners - for example, not building a railway station because it was perceived that there would be no need to leave Basildon.
The film chimed with us because of our age and our recognition of the 60s' obsession with block housing, high rises and concrete.
Some of the footage also took us back to times which seemed a bit more fun and we had a right good giggle at past fashions.
But it felt a shame that it only concentrated on Basildon because we have never been there and we felt that the film's points were not unique to it... or to new towns.

Reasons to watch: Interesting insight into lives in a New Town 
Reasons to avoid: Shame it concentrates only on Basildon

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 6.5/10

Director quote: Christopher Ian Smith: “It’s the story of the grand dreams of the new town… compared to harsh concrete realities.”

The big question - Did post-war architects do more damage than the German air force?

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