Britannia Hospital Review

Britannia Hospital
A dilapidated hospital staffed by mad doctors, rebellious workers and crazed trade unionists becomes a microcosm of early '80s Britain.

by DP |
Published on
Release Date:

01 Jan 1982

Running Time:

116 minutes

Certificate:

15

Original Title:

Britannia Hospital

The great irony of Lindsay Anderson's last home-made feature is that it was intended as a diatribe against the Thatcherite mentality, yet its barbs could now be aimed with equal justification and force at Blair's Britain.

Little has changed from the world described in Graham Crowden's closing speech - indeed, everything's a darn sight worse. Yet there's no-one in the modern domestic film industry with the balls or the brains to produce such a savage (if scattershot) satire.

There's the odd narrative cul-de-sac, some clumsy caricatures and several comic miscalculations, but this is still a courageous assault that's guaranteed to provoke a reaction.

Misses its targets more often than it hits, but the barbs sink in painfully when the movie hits home.
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