Derek vs Derek

The idyllic English countryside. An intensive dairy farmer called Derek. One day his neighbour, also called Derek, forsakes farming tradition and starts to turn his land over to wild nature. How does the community react when one of it’s own turns his back on their way of life?

I went to see James Dawson’s Derek vs Derek the other night and I loved it! James Dawson has pulled off that rare trick of making an entertaining film about an important social issue. The film tackles the loss of biodiversity in the English countryside beautifully: often looking like an Attenborough nature documentary. Derek vs Derek has the quiet humour of an episode of Mortimer and Whitehouse gone fishing but portrays the complexity of the issues surrounding intensive farming.  One of my favourite moments involves Linda’s, (Derek Banbury’s wife)  cheerful or rueful admission that her neighbour’s rewilding project has been good for her BandB business. There is time for us to get to know and care about the Dereks and Linda so that the overall effect is more like a Ken Loach film than a Curtis or Theroux documentary.  I came out of the cinema smiling but also thinking I must do something about this!