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Jubilee
1 9 7 8 (UK)
Derek Jarman's eulogy to punk is very much a product of the art
school spirit of the time: incredibly pretentious and never dull.
In the year 1578, Queen Elizabeth I (Jenny Runacre) asks her court
magician, Dr. John Dee (Richard O'Brien), to give her a vision of
"the shadow of her time."
Dee invokes the angel Ariel, who transports the Queen and Dee
forward in time to the England of the future - a post-punk post
Thatcherian wasteland where civilisation has come to a halt.
Bands of teenage girl punks live in a squat, make vague
attempts at raping Adam Ant, swear at each other a lot, and roam
the streets of London killing people because they get bored
playing Monopoly. Equally dangerous are the fascistic
police.
Buckingham Palace is a recording studio, the centre of an
entertainment empire controlled by media baron, Borgia Ginz, who
owns everything from the Church of England to the BBC.
The anti-heroes of the film are led by Elizabeth's mirror image
Bod, the murderous leader of a mad household that includes the
historian Amyl Nitrate (Jordan), the pyromaniac Mad (Toyah
Wilcox), the sex-obsessed actress Crabs (Nell Campbell), loving
brothers Sphinx and Angel, the artist Viv and their French au
pair, Chaos.
Britain's first punk rock feature film also showed an orgy in
Westminster Abbey and police terrorising the people with machine
guns.
Critics at the premier called the movie "sick" but
claimed also that it was "a prophetic warning for sections of
society that had ignored the youth rebellion". . . . or
not.
Edgy and shocking in 1977, whatever message director Derek
Jarman was trying to convey has been long lost: all that's left is
a disturbing realisation of how swiftly punk was reduced to camp
posturing.
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THE CAST
Queen Elizabeth I
Jenny Runacre
Amyl Nitrite
Jordan
Mad
Toyah Wilcox
Bod
Jenny Runacre
Crabs
Nell Campbell
Chaos
Hermine Demoriane
Sphinx
Karl Johnson
Angel
Ian Charleson
Viv
Linda Spurrier
Max
Neil Kennedy
Dr John Dee
Richard O'Brien
Kid
Adam Ant
Director
Derek Jarman
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