"Robinson in Space" - A Film by Patrick Keiller

Patrick Keiller uses a series of seven journeys between a wanderer/surveyor named Robinson and a Narrator to explore the current state of England and the histories that lead it to that status. After the film begins with a train ride and the proclamation for a revolution of everyday life, the two characters start on a project to decipher "the problem of England." This project unfolds as seven journeys modeled after Daniel Defoe's "A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain." Each journey differs geographically and highlights similarities with the other journeys. Together the journeys point out multitudes of shipping ports, networks of transportation, processing mills and distribution centers that create the economy and life of England.

Keiller's observations of the English economy point to a very specific process. This process begins with the import of raw materials like coal, petroleum products and iron ore via immense shipping operations. From the multitude of ports the materials move to large industrial complexes that employ very few people and create a very narrow range of specific products like latex for S&M clothing, rubber toys for children, fighter jets and hand cuffs. A large majority of these products then get sent back to the ports and exported to different countries around the world. The results of this process are felt in each Journey. The domestic extraction of natural materials has almost stopped and the sites previously occupied by quarries and coal mines have become Tesco distribution centers and Social Security offices.

The film explores these spaces of infrastructure and flows in great depth. It also mentions historically important writers, artists and politicians. However it fails to say anything about the common person except that amid dreams of international cities and future megacities, most people still live in the mundane. This means that Keiller really does not believe that the spaces where people live and work are important. The important spaces are those of flows. According to Keiller these spaces let the economy thrive and are curated by the government via direct grants to companies, construction of major ports and roadways and the sabotage of labor unions when necessary. That view of infrastructure ends the movie when four bridges spanning only themselves fade out to the credits.

Stream of thoughts after the jump