by Hector Mackenzie
WERE you inspired by the Life in a Day film screened on BBC2 last week? As one sometimes given to pondering why I actually fork out for a television licence, this stunning documentary, compiled from 4,500 hours of footage uploaded to You Tube by thousands of people around the world, came as a delightful bolt from the blue.
Anyone who caught it may well be inspired to pick up their camera and contribute to the follow up Britain in a Day project.
That aims to present a picture of life in the UK over a 24-hour period. That 24-hour period just happens to be tomorrow (Saturday, November 12).
Life in a Day, pulled together last year by Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald from footage uploaded around the world on July 24, 2010, is a breathtaking triumph of brilliant editing.
He has set the bar very high for Morgan Matthews, who is behind Britain in a Day.
Why does any of this matter?
If you watch Life in a Day (the good news you don't actually need a television as it can be found on You Tube), you'll be struck by universal themes running right the way through. In a bitterly divided world facing many seemingly insurmountable problems, these brilliantly spliced clips happy, sad, mundane, poignant are ultimately life-affirming glimpses of what unites us.
Amongst many deeply moving clips, all of which will speak to somebody, we discover that what matters to us also matters to people half a world away.
People who hold diametrically opposed views to our own. People we'll never meet and who we don't understand.
That's a pretty powerful message. The politicians running around like headless chickens at the G20 summit last week would all benefit, you can't help feeling, from stopping for a moment and sitting down together for a joint screening.
In one clip, a slim, calm Korean ("it doesn't matter whether I am the north or the south") patiently explains why he has spent nine years (and counting) cycling around the world. he wants to help reunify his country. In that time he's been hit by six cars and required surgery on five occasions. We last see him disappearing into the night on a poorly-lit road somewhere in Asia amidst chaotic driving.
It won't be long before he's hit again. But you just know he'll keep going. He is a quiet man on a dignified, deeply personal mission in a hectic world. While the miracle of birth forms another hugely uplifting segment of the documentary, so too does the shadow of death loom large.
We see a terrified-looking cow being slaughtered, a bolt thrust through its head before its throat is cut. We see a gravely ill hospital patient with lifeless eyes admitting that death is what he fears most. And we see love reflected in the eyes of cancer survivors and their families.
A widowed father with 14 hungry mouths to feed including a 20-year-old "retarded" son who is tethered to keep him out of trouble says "God wouldn't have created this population just to forget us". He still has hope. A little girl standing by a grave says, "I believe in him but what if God isn't real?"
A young woman who fears that she's missed her chance to be part of the historic cinematic experiment nothing 'extraordinary' happened in her day tearfully states four minutes before midnight, "I want people to know I'm there. I don't want to cease to exist." Her moving testimony, straight from the heart, in itself becomes extraordinary.
So Britain in a Day. Director Morgan Matthews appeals to everyone to take part. They key words to motivate are: personal; meaningful; bold; intimate and truthful.
"The footage that you capture could be included in a film that I believe will provoke, inspire, surprise and move audiences around the world. Britain in a Day will be...a film about us made by us."
What is the most important thing in your life at the moment?
What can you see from your window? What do you worry about? What makes you happy? Put "Britain in a Day" into a search engine and get involved!
