White Riot

The Clash song “White Riot” was the “Born in the USA” of late 1970s Britain: a song adopted as an anthem by right-wingers who liked the chorus but didn’t understand its message. The Clash were calling for poor white Britons to unite with U.K. people of color against economic and political oppression. The country’s National Front movement just wanted people of color ejected from the country, and said so in blatantly racist language while campaigning for elected office. The NF emboldened vicious skinhead gangs, who attacked and murdered people of color in horrifying numbers.

The documentary White Riot paints a frightening picture of this period of English history while tracing the rise of Rock Against Racism, a grassroots movement that organized multi-racial concerts to rally young people to oppose the NF and its minions. Leading punk bands — The Clash, Sham 69, Tom Robinson Band — were on the side of equality; Eric Clapton and Rod Stewart went on the record supporting the NF.

It’s a remarkable and little-known story that has clear modern parallels that director Rubika Shah wisely leaves for viewers to glean. It’s also a remarkably accomplished film — Shah’s first feature — that has a kinetic aesthetic derived directly from the material. Rock Against Racism published a graphically vibrant magazine called Temporary Hoarding, and White Riot animates its design sensibility as a unifying visual language.

The fragmented graphics also reflect the documentary’s impressionistic portrait of Rock Against Racism and its times. Shah isn’t tied down to an incremental time line — while the time and place are never in doubt, cause and effect can be muddled, as things no doubt seemed to the people who lived through them.

For all the horrors detailed in the film, it is in the end a feel-good story, as all the activists’ work culminates in an amazing event that has to be seen to be appreciated. Of course, more than forty years later, the racists have just adopted new haircuts and more devious political allies. Rock Against Racism may be a slice of history, but the cause and the music are as current as ever.

Grade: A-minus. Not rated, but PG-13 equivalent. Available Oct. 16 via Grail Moviehouse’s Virtual Sofa Cinema streaming program.

(Photo: Syd Shelton)