Review of Joy Division (2009) by Dave J — 23 May 2008

This documentary - not to be confused with the dramatic JD biopic Control - does a good job of putting Joy Division's story in the context of its time and place: Manchester at the end of punk and the beginning of Thatcherism. It contains some interesting and, at times, disarmingly frank testimony from the surviving band members and from Ian Curtis's girlfriend Annik Honore. It also gathers together excerpts from what must be just about all of the existing film footage of the band, including some that is interesting despite being of very poor visual and audio quality.

The problem for me is that the film is such an uncritical eulogy for the band that it sometimes feels like an extended promo film. A lot of talking heads are brought on to give interviews that say little more than 'I saw Joy Division and they were the greatest thing ever', and Deborah Curtis's disinclination to take part deprives the movie of one vital perspective on her husband's short, troubled life.

Joy Division were much more controversial than this film would have you believe, particularly because of their ill-judged use of fascist symbolism. In fairness, this is briefly touched upon in the film, and Bernard Sumner does have the grace to admit that naming the band after the prostitutes' wings of Nazi concentration camps could be seen as tasteless, but the film gives the impression that nobody other than their manager Rob Gretton was really that bothered about al this stuff, which just wasn't so. It's particularly rich that at one point we're invited to view Joy Division as being some kind of cultural guerilla resistance to the austerities of Thatcherism, when Ian Curtis actually openly supported the Tory government.

The power and beauty of the music contained here makes up for a lot; but I suspect that the insiders' participation was bought at the cost of taking out anything really critical about the group. The film accordingly smells a bit of whitewash, and for me Control offers more insight into what is a fascinating story.