She was a formidable woman

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's top 50 films of 2023

#46 :  Tish

Gripping portrait of a passionate photographer of austerity Britain who lived a life as tough as those she shot in different eras of deprivation and marginalisation.

I suspected I'd like this film about Tish Murtha who documented the lives of those in Northern Britain in the 80s and the effects of Thatcherism (and I also suspect there would be some interesting parallels with the current day), but I'd been unable to track it down, so I'd given up on it.  

But a couple of week after I'd written it off, it popped up on iPlayer - hoorah!  However, I do have concerns about how effective a documentary about a photographer can be - let's find out, shall we?

It's basically a straightforward talking-heads style documentary which takes a run through of Tish Murtha's life from her childhood through to her untimely death in 2013.  The interviews are mostly undertaken by Ella, Tish's daughter and she's a very warm character - obviously relating well to the various characters from her mother's life. The researchers for the film have done a great job in tracking people down - her old college tutors were particularly charming because they're pretty old now but they still remember her well.

Tish was obviously a fascinating and formidable character - it's interesting how she managed to cause so much controversy with her views on juvenile jazz bands and youth unemployment - not necessarily subjects you'd expect to raise either enough interest (for the former) or divergence (for the latter) for proper controversy.  It was heartbreaking how highly she was regarded and the impact she had at times, but she was just unable to make a living from photography and it sounds like the system just ground her down, dying at the age of 57 with a brain embolism.  But Ella has kept her name alive through publishing some books and getting her work into Tate Britain, as well as this film and it seems like it's helped her a lot to deal with her grief.

The talking-heads style works well with the photography because it enables them to show the pictures without being overly academic about it - and there's no doubt she took a powerful photograph or two during her life.  The interviews with Tish's siblings about their childhood are also particularly illuminating because it sounds like a 60's childhood in the North East was something that most of the kids were lucky to escape from with their lives.  At times they also use a model filmed from the back to recreate potential scenes from the time - it's a bit hackneyed but fills some time I guess.  There are also plenty of photos of Tish, but I was surprised there was no video footage.

One unrelated thought I had is that I suspect there's an interesting documentary to be made on the health issues being experienced by men of a certain age from the area - let's just say that very few of the interviewees are in the best of shape (and three of them are mentioned "in loving memory" at the end of the film).  There are also amusing use of subtitles for some of the regional accents involved at times throughout the film and I'd have to say I found them useful!

All in all, it's a nice film with some interesting people talking warmly about someone who obviously cared passionately about photography, their neighbourhood and the effect of government policy on it.  But I'm not entirely convinced that makes it a great film and the fact that it was only released in the run-up to Xmas and was barely visible anywhere until it made it on to iPlayer suggests that someone knew someone who had a word to get it on The Guardian's list - is nothing sacred any more?  Having said all that, it's a warm, thought-provoking film on a subject I knew nothing about so I enjoyed watching it - I just don't think it's necessarily "great".

#47 - The man is more interesting than the film
#45 - Two unlikeable characters