Just shown in the U.K. and already a cause, a campaign & a call to arms, few expected this modest ITV mini-series about modest people to be so immodestly effective.* But it immediately found well deserved attention with its true story of an out of control computer operating system (Horizon) built for the U.K. Post Office that wound up decimating the lives & livelihoods of hundreds of small town post office sub-contractors criminally charged & responsible for repaying falsely generated debts. Each desperate operator told it must be them since no one else reporting anything similar about the infallible Horizon payment tracking system. Enter Mr. Bates (Alan Bates, actually, just not that Alan Bates), played by Toby Jones as the most even-tempered/well-organized Job figure imaginable. Refusing to admit any wrong doing or to plead out on a lesser charge, all he has are facts, figures and fortitude, doggedly contacting others in a steadily increasing circle of post-office managers all in the same boat as he organizes a committee, finds representation and takes Horizon and the Post Office (ergo the whole British Government) to court. And you thought Sisyphus had it tough. (Two decades on, he’s still at it.) Director James Strong & scripter Gwyneth Hughs don’t try to reinvent the docu-drama wheel here, and refuse to push too hard for melodrama in spite of some really dark situations and truly despicable behavior by tech/corporate types and politicos. They even find a few good lawyers to fight the good fight. Easy to see how this hit with audiences (faceless managers, intractable computers and business overlords always good targets), but the film also finds emotional episodes as steady injustice and torturous delays slowly bend in the face of the truth. In its quiet way, very satisfying.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Considering the damaged lives & lost savings, imagine how high compensation might have been in an American court . . . and if anyone could have lived thru all the appeals to collect them.
DOUBLE-BILL: A fifth episode under the same title and released at the same time (not seen here) tells the tale in documentary form using many of the surviving players.
LINK: *Beat the New York Times by a day! https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/10/world/europe/uk-itv-mr-bates-vs-post-office.html
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