''Carry Greenham Home'' is a 1983 documentary about the

Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp was a series of protest camps established to protest against nuclear weapons being placed at RAF Greenham Common in Berkshire, England. The camp began on 5 September 1981 after a Welsh group, Women for Life ...

created by Amanda Richardson and

Beeban Kidron Beeban Tania Kidron, Baroness Kidron, (born 2 May 1961), is a British politician and a filmmaker. She is an advocate for children's rights in the digital world and has played a role in establishing standards for online safety and privacy across ...

. It bears the same name as the song by

Peggy Seeger Margaret "Peggy" Seeger (born June 17, 1935) is an American Folk music, folk singer and songwriter. She has lived in Britain for more than 60 years and was married to the singer-songwriter Ewan MacColl until his death in 1989. She is a member ...

. It is considered "the first full-length documentary of a protest camp as a site of ongoing protest and daily living or re-creation."

Summary

The film depicts various activities involving the people of the camp, including nonviolent direct actions, interactions with the media, conflict with

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...

, and life around the camp. * The direct actions include

sit-in A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to mo ...

s, the blockage of the entrance gate with a bike lock, unauthorized entry into the base,

banner A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Also, ...

creation, and an event with a 4.5-mile-long textile dragon tail. * Interactions with the media include discussion with two journalists interviewing activists amidst the camp, someone explaining her perspective to a cameraperson, and someone performing cartwheels in the background as a reporter describes their surroundings. * Conflict with law enforcement includes a court appearance, demonstrators being carried away by police, and forced removal of cars belonging to the residents of the camp. * Moments of life around the camp include cooking, childbirth, a group meeting and a discussion of finances. Despite the intense subject matter, the film does not depict much spirituality. The film has also been noted for its portrayal of visual symbolism, including "handmade sweaters adorned with

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

and

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...

emblem An emblem is an abstract art, abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a monarch or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and ''symbol'' ...

s."

Music

The film features protest music, including the titular song, "

Reclaim the Night Reclaim the Night is a movement started in Leeds in 1977 as part of the Women's liberation movement, Women's Liberation Movement. Marches demanding that women be able to move throughout public spaces at night took place across England until the ...

," "We are singing for our lives," "We are women" to the melody of

Frère Jacques "Frère Jacques" (, ), also known in English as "Brother John", is a nursery rhyme of French origin. The rhyme is traditionally sung in a round. The song is about a friar who has overslept and is urged to wake up and sound the bell for the mat ...

, and a version of "

Which Side Are You On? "Which Side Are You On?" is a song written in 1931 by activist Florence Reece, who was the wife of Sam Reece, a union organizer for the United Mine Workers in Harlan County, Kentucky. Background In 1931, miners and mine owners in southeaster ...

," evoking

Barbara Kopple Barbara Kopple (born July 30, 1946) is an American film director known primarily for her documentary work. She is credited with pioneering a renaissance of cinema vérité, and bringing the historic French style to a modern American audience. S ...

's '' Harlan County, USA''. The film has been interpreted as documenting how music can build collective identity, and the folk style has been interpreted as reflecting the timelessness of their messages. The phrase "Carry Greenham Home" took on a meaning of solidarity away from the site of the camp, and its use in this manner was a source of confusion for a character in

Ali Smith Ali Smith CBE FRSL (born 24 August 1962) is a Scottish author, playwright, academic and journalist. Sebastian Barry described her in 2016 as "Scotland's Nobel laureate-in-waiting". Early life and education Smith was born in Inverness on 24 A ...

's ''

Winter Winter is the coldest and darkest season of the year in temperate and polar climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Dif ...

''.

Production

Kidron and Richardson began recording video for a university course as film students in December 1982 and stayed at the camp to record for seven months, but only assembled the footage in summer 1983, prompted by negative media coverage of the camp. Kidron said that "Then it seemed necessary." Kidron also stated that they were surrounded by all male film crews at the "Embrace the Base" demonstration in 1982, and that the police accepted the male crews while the protestors welcomed Beeban and Kidron, drawing them into participating in the protest themselves. It was produced on

16 mm film 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical Film gauge, gauge of Photographic film, film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 mm film, 8 mm and 35mm movie film, 35 mm. It ...

Distribution

''Carry Greenham Home'''s distribution was unconventional; it was distributed independently, with much involvement from the filmmakers. It was played "in meeting halls, church basements and school classrooms, often with a Greenham protestor or two on hand for discussion."

Awards

The film won a Gold Hugo at the

Chicago Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

{{Cite book, last=L., first=Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey. Jacobs, Katrien. Unterburger, Amy, url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/654351894, title=Women filmmakers & their films, date=1998, publisher=St. James Press, oclc=654351894 and was a finalist for Best Documentary at the Grierson British Documentary Awards.

References

Documentary films about women 1983 documentary films 1983 films Documentary films about nuclear war and weapons Anti-war films British documentary films 1980s English-language films English-language documentary films