My Generation

Director David Batty's glorious documentary isn't the first to savour Britain in the Swinging Sixties. However, to have 60s icon Michael Caine as the MC adds vivid personal insight to this vibrant exploration of the seismic shift that took place in British social and cultural history. As usual, Caine supplies plenty of sharp, witty anecdotes (how he adopted his name; his career-making audition for Zulu), while clips from his 60s landmarks (The Ipcress File, Alfie) are seamlessly woven into the historical narrative. But the star is also emotionally invested here, being a working-class kid who made good from the nation bursting out of its grey, postwar chrysalis into a youthful, colourful world of fashion, art and music where class didn't matter. A monochrome clip of one Bufton Tufton spluttering over the end of civilisation sums up the impact beautifully. Terrific archive is matched by pithy, contemporary off-screen observations from the famous movers and (hippy-hippy) shakers of the time - David Bailey, Twiggy, Paul McCartney, Mary Quant, Roger Daltrey, Marianne Faithfull - and a rousing soundtrack that includes the Beatles (Strawberry Fields Forever), the Kinks (Waterloo Sunset) and the Rolling Stones (You Can't Always Get What You Want) is difficult to beat.