George Galloway has apparently made a feature-length documentary about Tony Blair, centring around Blair’s decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003 and his fall from grace into greed. The film is directed by Sanne van den Bergh and Greg Ward, two virtual unknowns, both with only one other credit to their names. Even then, those credits are as a producer and a cinematographer respectively. The film’s poster is the picture of Blair we’ve all seen, with the former PM taking a selfie grinning in front of a backdrop of chaos. Add this to the fact that the title is ‘The Killing$ of Tony Blair’ (the dollar sign isn’t a typo, that’s the actual title) and that George Galloway, the man behind the whole project, has always had a grudge against Blair, and it seems we have a recipe for disaster.
However, looking at the trailer, the film seems competently done, with some big names including Stephen Fry, Peter Oborne, and rather predictably given his criticism of New Labour, Seumas Milne (who is now Labour’s Director of Communications). The trailer bills the film as “The Year’s Most Controversial Documentary”. Whether this is quite justified is another thing altogether. Yes, various establishment figures such as MPs and diplomats give their two cents on Blair, and most of it will probably be negative, without mentioning any good Blair did, but what did you expect when everybody already hates the former PM? In the aftermath of the Chilcot report, this film might just feel like beating a dead horse, but if you’re interested in politics at all, you might want to check this out.
The film is in selected cinemas from July the 27th onwards, and there will be DVD and digital release on 15 August.
Words by Gabriel Rutherford
Twitter: @gabe_writes