Film Review: “HyperNormalisation” – Directed by Adam Curtis

It’s hard to find a better match between the way something is presented and the message it conveys than with “HyperNormalisation”, the new film by Adam Curtis for BBC iPlayer.

Curtis has been making TV shows for almost forty years, and his unique style of using old videos, a strong voiceover, and his love for odd bits of history fits the internet better than regular TV. People can stop and go back whenever they want.

Curtis makes a long and complex story in this film, which is even longer than his last one called “Bitter Lake.” The movie is 165 minutes, and Curtis doesn’t hide that it’s a bit hard to follow sometimes. 

He goes from talking about the past to talking about conspiracy theories and even tells stories that sound like they’re from a bar conversation. It’s like he’s exploring Wikipedia with a bunch of open tabs and doesn’t want to stop.

His main idea is that a group of experts, people who talk about change but don’t really do anything, and tricky internet business people have worked together to create a fake world. This world feels normal and familiar, but it’s actually not real at all.

Curtis starts the movie with a flashlight shining in a dense forest, showing how we often can’t see the bigger picture because we’re focused on small things.