Some good documentaries feel as if they land in their director’s lap. Icarus, from 2017, seemed to luck out when doping in cycling became an international scandal midway through production; 2022’s Navalny included the Russian government’s brutal targeting of Vladimir Putin’s political rival. Although these were riveting films, there was a sense that they happened to be in the right place at the right time with a camera. In the case of Undercover: Exposing the Far Right, cameras were running during an extremely eventful 10 months for Britain, which climaxed with the race riots this summer, providing a cinematic final act. But Havana Marking’s film isn’t just a good documentary – it’s a great one.
Over 90 minutes, it follows investigators from the organisation Hope Not Hate as they track down far-right extremists. At first, this seems like an unnecessary endeavour: social media feels flooded with the “alt-right” broadcasting their views. The race rioters in Britain – and in the US at Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 and the Capitol in 2021 – weren’t exactly trying to conceal themselves. But as it continues, the importance of their work becomes increasingly evident.
