Brass Eye - Series And Special DVD > Reviews > More relevent now than ever

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Standard
How does it compare to similar films?	Not applicable

Advantages:	Topicality and that it doesn't date .
Disadvantages:	Distasteful to some .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

For thoughtful, intelligent people with a dry sense of humour...you can't go wrong. Now I missed out on this first time around when it was on TV but, on a whim, I bought it on sale in a local DVD store remembering that I'd liked Chris Morrises The Day Today.

Yes, it is excrutiating in parts but it's so worth it! A parody of all those sensational news reports that, sadly, are becoming the norm. A report from a parochial town called Cow sick pronounce koswick, an early appearance from Steve Coogan as a swimming pool security guard and a naked Armando Ianucci having sex doggy style on camera for journalistic purposeses. My favourite quote is "Now, there's no evidence to support this but it's a scientific FACT that paedophiles have more DNA in common with crabs than other human beings". And this is a well-known celebrity unthinkingly carrying out, what he thought was, an in-depth topical news feature. No wonder pseudo-science spreads like wildfire!

It is hard to decide upon a single jewel in the crown with so much to choose from. The episodes are:

1. Animals
2. Drugs
3. Science
4. Sex
5. Crime
6. Decline
7. Special

The special, of course, being the notorious and controvertial episode on paedophilia. This isn't actually the best episode in my opinion but it was probably the most successful in raising the show's profile and highlighting the nation's hysterical response to news items. A point that is sadly often misunderstood is that the writers aren't trivialising paedophilia or any of the other issues it covers; they are merely pointing to the fact that TV is misleading and trying to teach us to think for ourselves..

So, all in all, it's very funny. I do fully realise that this is not to everyone's taste and I certainly wouldn't put it on for entertainment when my gran came round but I think it serves a valid sociological purpose that's more relevent today then ever (despite being made in 1997), with the advent of "global terror" and so on. Wake up everyone! The world isn't how it's shown on TV and this does a great job of showing how easy it is for everyone to jump on a bandwagon.