Grenfell: Uncovered on Netflix is this year's most important documentary

In the world of Netflix documentaries, many of us understand them to be big-budget, glossy, well-shot and – let's face it – a tad sensationalist in tone and storytelling.

Slotting in enough twists and turns to keep viewers gripped is the kind of sentiment usually reserved for primetime dramas, so, when tackling the medium of a documentary, it can often make for a production that feels ever so slightly exploitative.

Essentially, that's the true crime television machine that we now find ourselves in.

But this time around, Netflix and Rogan Productions have produced something that will both nestle in the streamer's top 10 and – more importantly – have the ability to drive real-world change.

The story of Grenfell is one that we're all too familiar with, and simply put, is far from over.

While there are a myriad of ways in which the story can be told, this documentary hones in on underlining how the tower block fire – the deadliest residential fire in the UK since the Second World War – could have been prevented and, ultimately, how 72 lives could have been saved.

It's no easy feat to map out a wide-spanning and emotionally raw story like this one in a way that will both educate and illicit emotion, but it's one that Grenfell: Uncovered achieves with marked poignancy.

Over the course of the film, it toes the line between highlighting staggering systemic failings and figures, while weaving in personal tragedy and the stories of the bereaved, the survivors and the firefighters who attended to the fire on the night of 14th June 2017.

The result is a 100-minute film that never really slows down, retaining a steady pace of information dissemination that will leave you disgusted, shocked and unable to look away.

We're led to examine this increasingly disturbing chain of events by journalist and author of Show Me the Bodies: How We Let Grenfell Happen, Peter Apps.

One of the only journalists who has dedicated unparalleled time and resources to ensuring the facts about Grenfell are out there for all to see, Apps effortlessly anchors the documentary and takes the viewers through the kinds of dangerous polyethylene (PE) panels that were not only used on Grenfell, but continue to be used on various apartment blocks throughout the country and beyond.

In one particularly chilling montage of clips, we're confronted by the fact that this cladding (which, as we're told in the documentary, was used on Grenfell Tower as part of Kensington and Chelsea Council's efforts to improve its aesthetic image) wasn't only used on buildings in the UK, but has also been used on tower blocks in Shanghai and Dubai – and continues to be to this day.

Through the uncovering of internal Arconic emails (one of the main companies involved in the production of the cladding materials), as well as insight from fire expert Guillermo Rein and former Arconic employee Sara Sjoberg, you'll be hard pressed not to feel completely and utterly incensed.

While the facts and findings are integral to Grenfell: Uncovered, this documentary is nothing without the stories of those who will forever be changed by such tragedy.

As well as heartfelt contributions from the likes of former Grenfell resident Eddie Daffarn and firefighters David Badillo and Chris Batcheldor, we also hear from father and daughter Marcio and Luana Gomes, Omar Alhaj Ali, and sisters Bernie Bernard and Jackie Leger.

It's through their brave interviews that we get the essential human stories of Grenfell, stripped of technical scientific terms and replaced with the kind of emotion that will floor you.

There aren't quite words to describe just what they've had to endure, with the documentary spotlighting each of their stories to paint a picture of their lives pre- and post-Grenfell fire.

Usually in documentaries like these, there are one or two standout stories that linger with you long after watching, but here, every single testimony and piece of shaky phone-recorded footage of the night will not only rip your heart out, but also incite rightful anger.

There are lighter vignettes dotted through the film, with the likes of Luana's J Hus rendition and the brief snapshot we get of Raymond Bernard's (affectionately known as Moses) reggae sound system days.

But I'd be lying and doing a disservice to the hard work of this production if I were to say that this was ever going to be a "light watch".

In fact, many may watch this and feel as though the emotional heights of this documentary are, at times, too much to bear. I say it serves nobody to look away.

As a directorial debut, Grenfell: Uncovered also marks out Olaide Sadiq as one of the UK’s top documentarians to watch.

It's no small task to take on a subject matter of this magnitude, but this film also gives various viewpoints (including that of former prime minister Theresa May) ample time and consideration, without ever feeling unevenly paced or oversaturated.

The case of Grenfell remains open and current conversations now turn to the controversial planned deconstruction of the tower block, but this documentary places you directly into the months leading up to the fire and the night in question.

There are many moments throughout watching this that will fill you with rage and sadness, with the end in particular paying fitting tribute to the 72 victims, 18 of them children.

Grenfell: Uncovered doesn’t necessarily need to end on a rallying cry, the content at the very heart of it amply steps up to that plate. (Grenfell has remained a tragedy that nobody has been charged for – a sobering fact we're reminded of at the end of the film.)

With it now being put centre stage in a high-profile Netflix documentary like this one, it could stand to hold certain people to account by platforming this disaster to a global audience.

The TV industry has seen how scripted productions like Mr Bates vs the Post Office and, even more recently, Adolescence have achieved real-world impact.

So, the real question is, when a tragedy like this one is put on a screen for us all to see plainly, what actions will be taken to ensure the same can be done to get justice for the survivors and bereaved of the Grenfell Tower fire?

If Grenfell: Uncovered doesn't act as a powerful call to action for most, especially those in positions of power, then I don't know what will.

Grenfell: Uncovered is streaming now on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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