my life in the bush of ghost

Directed by Derek jarman: Gay Director, died of HIV. His works includes: Sex Pistols's clips and The Smiths.
Soundtrack by Brian Eno: Half-God Musician.

Queen Elizabeth I time-travels to an apocalyptic punk future to witness the end of British society. In a nutshell, the film is more a cultural artifact than a narrative film in the classical sense. Derek Jarman's Jubilee immerses itself in the punk culture that cast an apocalyptic light on Britain in the late 1970s. Rather than the crass exploitation of this counterculture-movement's fashion statements and more accessible rock bands, this extremely avant-garde endeavor embraces the spirit, politics and aesthetics of the punk movement to the hilt, making the 25-year-old film something of a time warp experience.

Unfortunately, it doesn't translate very well into a feature-length cinematic production. Structured loosely around the intriguing premise of Elizabeth I time-travelling to a post-apocalyptic age to see what the future will bring for Great Britain, the film quickly abandons any sense of narrative continuity in favor of an increasingly random succession of episodes that communicate the punk ethos in one way or another. Certainly worthwhile for those interested in the period or viewers with fond memories of this bygone era, but to the more casual viewer, it's an inaccessible, chaotic mess that's more easily appreciated for its historical value than for its aesthetics.

Upon its release, Jubilee was met with criticism from participants in the punk movement, specifically, that it exploited punk for Jarman's own artistic profit, and that as an "outsider," he had no authority to represent punk. But punk's ownership and representation -- and its credibility -- have long been up for debate. Despite its investment in the working class, the movement has never shed its avant-garde, art-school associations and stylings. "Jubilee: A Time Less Golden," a documentary included in this DVD, gives a lot of consideration to this tension. As John Maybury (former London punk) observes, British punk was made up almost entirely of "upper middle class [kids] and aristos pretending to be commoners."

There were also tensions on the set between the "real" punk kids Jarman hired to fill supporting parts and the "real" actors playing the major roles. One of the actors, Jordan, was a 24/7 punk who worked at Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren's famous King's Road shop, "SEX":and Toyah Willcox, who was a classically trained actor fresh out of the National Theater. A number of the bands originally slated to appear in the film, like Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Clash, pulled out at the last minute, claiming the film commercialised the movement. But Kenny, drummer for the Banshees, does appear, as do The Slits and Adam Ant.

Perhaps most famously, designer Vivienne Westwood despised the movie, calling it "the most boring and therefore disgusting film" she had ever seen. I too, fell asleep two times when I watched this. Maybe it wont happened if I watched this in 1977 instead of now when punk is so outdated. However, I think Marie Antoinette is aesthetically a misplaced-rip-off of this movie (French culture - Punk Frenzy? Queen Elizabeth laughs out loud).