Louis Theroux is one of our best documentarians and this new release of his five most recent films confirms that he is improving with age.
First introduced to our screens as a cipher to Michael Moore on his TV Nation show, Theroux’s early documentaries played hard on his little-boy-lost persona which he often used to his benefit when turning the tables on the unsuspecting focus of his work with astute questioning hidden behind such wide-eyed enthusiasm. Churning out work which mainly featured an extreme celebrity (Saville, Eubank, Hamilton, Widdecombe), Theroux has found his voice by upping the importance of his subject matter.
The first film in this series is perhaps the most shocking. America’s Medicated Kids casts sharp focus on the families and doctors of Pittsburgh as they sweep to judgement on children as young as six by medicating them onto anti-depressants and suppressants in order to curb their alleged “disorders”. Theroux keeps at a far more objective distance than such documentarians as Michael Moore would and as a result those responsible for their charges are damned by their own actions rather than any direct political rhetoric.
Law and Disorder in Lagos blows the lid on the corrupt ruling parties of the Nigerian city as rogue gangs run roughshod over the law-abiding as they collect protection money and evict those that don’t cooperate with the self-appointed militia police doing little more to help other than doing it under cover of a uniform.
The Ultra Zionists does little to shed any light on the “Middle-East problem” with pogroms of heavily protected Jews declaring parts of Palestine theirs with impunity, but coming under attack from the locals for their troubles.
Whilst the 2-disc set suggests that there are some “godly” issues at play which were barely touched on in the Zionists episode, the risible Westboro Baptist Church shows that their numbers are dwindling and factions from within the family are relenting on the promise they made to patriarch Pastor Fred Phelps as they spout their homophobic and racist drivel.
Finally the two-part Miami’s Mega Jail shows how locking up certain sub-sections of American communities has done little to stem the rising culture of lawlessness on the streets that could presciently point towards the problems that the UK are just tasting.
Theroux has a consistently non-judgmental voice to his work that makes for a series of excellent (albeit brief) forays into the underbelly of (mostly) American subculture.
Released on DVD on Monday 15th August 2011 by 2entertain.