extreme, that style is represented in the recent “Dogma 95” films, partic-
ularly Von Trier’s Breaking the Waves and Vinterberg’s The Celebration. But
none of the work has given up those original documentary intentions—to
share with the audience a real experience, and to educate more than to
entertain. The docudrama represents the consciousness of style fused
with dramatic principles to share a story the writer-directors feel is
important.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
The Centrality of Actuality
At the heart of the docudrama is the sense of actuality. Whether the focus is on
real people, a real place, or a historical event, the docudrama trades on this
sense—it happened to real people, in a real place and time. The deployment of
style, as well as of the dramatic components, will likely focus on that veracity.
Time will also be allotted to supporting the sense of actuality—details,
habits, and customs will all be specific to the topic. This does not, however,
necessarily mean that the focus will be on the famous or highborn, although
both have provided ample material for the docudrama. It means that at
whatever level, rich or poor, famous or obscure, the focus of the narrative
will be as much taken up with the “anthropology” of the place and time as
it will with the dramatic properties of the event or person.
The Dominance of Place and Time Over Character
In the melodrama, the character and his or her goal seem to transcend
time and place. The reason is that at its heart, melodrama is about psy-
chology, behavior, and interior issues; in a sense, the dramatic arc of the
main character is an inner journey. Consequently, the externalities of time
and place are subsidiary to the internal dynamics of character. Mike Van
Diem’s Character, discussed in the previous chapter, is an excellent
benchmark. The main character’s family life, his ambition, and his self-
abnegation far transcend the sense of Rotterdam in the 1920s. We are
aware of Rotterdam, its poverty, and its labor unrest, but none of this
overrides the interior journey of the main character. In docudrama the

the battle itself, the last battle fought on British soil, dominates the narra-
tive. Although there are many characters on both sides of the battle,
their vividness does not dominate the story; indeed, there is no single
main character. The course of the event, which is the plot, dominates the
narrative.
This dynamic does not change when Watkins takes a character as his
subject. In his film Edvard Munch, the goal of the main character is to pur-
sue his artistic goals. His early career in Norway and Germany is a failure,
because of the powerful conservatism of the German art critics. Although
Munch finds alliances with other artists and writers, the course of his
career, the plot, has a tragic quality. Here too plot seems more important
than the interior emotional journey of Munch (so often reflected in his
own paintings).

The Docudrama 173
Ch14.qxd 9/27/04 6:10 PM Page 173
The Relationship of Docudrama to Issues of the Day
Like melodrama, the docudrama is eminently adaptable to the issues of the
day. Because as a style it gives the viewer the sense of being there as the
story is unfolding, the style evokes the power of television with its imme-
diacy. Consequently, films such as The Death of a Princess are particularly
powerful. Much of Ken Loach’s work, from Poor Cow to Riff Raff, has this
quality. The docudrama also lends weight to past events, special events,
and famous people of the past. Steven Spielberg’s techniques for the open-
ing battle scene of Saving Private Ryan borrow extensively from the style of
the docudrama. He has used the approach not only to memorialize the
D-day landings on the beaches of Normandy but also to give us the feeling
that we are on those beaches.
The docudrama form is particular and elicits a very specific kind of reac-
tion from its audience. It lends an immediacy to events past and present, an

higher level of importance, serving an educational or political goal rather
than entertainment—directors choose the docudrama, a form whose style
implies, “This is important.”
MOTIFS—CASE STUDIES
For docudrama, as for melodrama, it is useful to look at case studies in order
to understand the narrative shape of the form. The two case studies below
will represent two of the subcategories of the docudrama: the event, Peter
Watkins’s Culloden (1964); and the political portrait, Ken Loach’s Land and
Freedom (1996).
Culloden
The Main Character and His Goal
The story proceeds without a main character. The combatants are the
Scottish and the English. The leadership in each case is highlighted; how-
ever, there is no single character through whom we enter the story. If there is
the equivalent of a main character, it is the narrator, in essence a reporter in
search of the story. He interviews combatants, the victors as well as the van-
quished. He is looking to explain as well as to understand the battle and its
aftermath. In this sense, the narrator could be considered the main character,
with the goal of reporting the story of the last battle to occur on British soil.
The narrator, by the way, is Peter Watkins himself. Using the form of the
docudrama, he has made himself, and his voice about the battle, the entry
point (which is the role of the main character) into the story.
The Antagonist
The antagonist in this story is certainly the imperial forces, from the com-
mander, Prince William of England, down to the English soldiers. They are
portrayed as cruel, lusting for Scottish blood. Although Prince Charles, who
leads the Scottish rebellion, is rebuked for his indifference to his forces and
for his addiction “to his little bottle,” he is presented as no worse than an
incapable leader of the disunited, underarmed forces that meet the English
on the field at Culloden.

and military organization and weaponry are combined with journalistic
interviews with the combatants. The presentation is extremely realistic.
The narrator, the writer-director Watkins, has clear sympathies for Scottish
nationalism; consequently, he editorializes about the English leadership
and forces in the harshest terms. It is his view that this last battle on
English soil destroyed a culture, the remnants of which were dispersed to
the far corners of the Empire as a result. The tone of the narration is one of
176 Writing the Short Film

Ch14.qxd 9/27/04 6:10 PM Page 176