My first introduction to the films of Alan Clarke was in the school playground. Clarke had been dead for some years by this point, so his films were not a regular presence on television. And of course I was not introduced to 'the films of Alan Clarke' but a film, a dirty film, "a fucking violent film": Made in Britain. The hippest music within the rock faction as school was hardcore/post-hardcore punk. 'Peter' - one of the ringleaders - had gone rooting around the more extreme end of the subculture. Having got hold of copies of Made in Britain and American History X, he passed them around the cognoscenti like porn mags. [I don't think any of us knew it, but many of the photographs for Gavin Watson's Skins had been taken in our town]. It was some years before I connected Rita, Sue and Bob Too with the man who brought us Trevor.
For someone who could make difficult or even avant-garde material, many of Clarke's films have found an audience among the people they are actually about. They've developed something of samizdat life, similar to the one Carl described for Danny Dyer DVDs (and of course there's direct connection there via the re-make of The Firm.)
A combination of the subject matter, the immediacy and raw power of the performances, and the lack of obvious moralism or plots ( no redemptions, no learning) creates an aura around them. A distillation on film of many experiences and feelings.
Former heroin users post under 'Christine' on youtube:
Ex-soldiers discuss 'Contact':
This can be pushed too far, of course. The packaging for the Alan Clarke collection suggests a very particular audience in mind - marketing him as a retro-subculture director which obviously does him a huge disservice.
This is problematic in some ways, but it does take his work outside of the comfort zones of Loach and Leigh - and suggests it is strong enough to sustain several interpretations or appeal to several audiences.
Whether Mi5 uses Psy-Ops as a training video who knows?
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