Adam Curtis: The Living Dead Part 3: The Attic (1995)

Dandelion Salad

replaced video April 9, 2013

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BBC

Three Films About the Power of the Past was the second major documentary series made by British film-maker Adam Curtis. This series investigated the way that history and memory (both national and individual) have been used by politicians and others. It was transmitted on BBC Two in the spring of 1995.

In this episode, the Imperial aspirations of Margaret Thatcher were examined. The way in which Mrs Thatcher used public relations in an attempt to emulate Winston Churchill in harking back to Britain’s “glorious past” to fulfill a political or national end.

The title is a reference to the attic flat at the top of 10 Downing Street, which was created during Thatcher’s period refurbishment of the house, which did away with the Prime Minister’s previous living quarters on lower floors. Scenes from The Innocents (film) the adaptation of The Turn of the Screw by Henry James are intercut with Thatcher’s reign.

From the archives:

Adam Curtis: The Living Dead Part 1: On the Desperate Edge of Now (1995)

Adam Curtis: The Living Dead Part 2: You Have Used Me as a Fish Long Enough (1995)

Psywar: The Real Battlefield is the Mind

The Century Of The Self By Adam Curtis (2002; must-see)