‘Grenfell should make us all uncomfortable': Olaide Sadiq on making Grenfell: Uncovered
Over the course of 100 minutes, a new documentary on the Grenfell Tower disaster splices footage from the night and the subsequent public inquiry with testimony from survivors and the bereaved.
And at its heart is a universal story: classism, the prioritisation of individual profit over public safety, and a lack of accountability for the decision-makers behind it.
'Grenfell might have looked like a unique thing that happened to a select group of people, but there's a universality in being the victim of profit over safety,' the film-maker Olaide Sadiq said. 'Decisions are made by people and in spaces that we're not privy to, which could come to affect us one day.'
Many interviewees agree throughout the film, not least Theresa May, the prime minister at the time.
'There were a group of people whose very housing meant that they were in some sense second class to others,' she says. 'I hope that coming out of the Grenfell tragedy, we can erase that sense.'
It's a thread weaved throughout Grenfell: Uncovered, which is released on Netflix this week – eight years after the fire that killed 72 people.
Sadiq knew one of the victims of the fire, Khadija Saye, a photographer who had exhibited at the Venice Biennale, and who died alongside her mother.
'I remember it like it was yesterday. You always think this country has the resources and money to ensure things like that don't happen, Kensington and Chelsea is one of the richest boroughs in the world. But it did happen, with devastating consequences.'
May is forthcoming in the film – she repeats her previous assertion that she will 'always regret' not meeting survivors of the blaze when she first visited the site.
It was a surprisingly 'open' conversation for Sadiq, who said she was 'very clear' about the purposes of her documentary. 'May was on board with it. Regardless of how you feel about her as a former PM, it was brave of her to sit down and own what she wanted to own.'
Survivors, the bereaved and the firefighters deployed on the night speak of their disbelief at how the fire could have spread so quickly – within mere minutes, because the cladding materials and insulation were so flammable.
The documentary details the institutional failures at the London fire brigade and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It reminds us of David Cameron's wider government policy to relax laws and regulations, despite the risks this posed.
It also refers to documents Sadiq and Netflix uncovered through a court process, including emails between staff members at Arconic, the multibillion-dollar US company that made the combustible cladding panels on the the tower.
'I always felt like I knew a lot about Grenfell, but I gained a newfound knowledge through making this, including just how avoidable it all was,' Sadiq said. 'There's so much my eyes are open to now, and I want other people to watch this and feel the same. The Grenfell story should make us all uncomfortable. And to this day it remains unresolved.'
Last September, Sir Martin Moore-Bick's report on the causes of the fire highlighted the incompetence, dishonesty and greed that made the blaze possible.
It said the key companies involved – Arconic, Celotex and Kingspan – had engaged in 'deliberate and sustained strategies to manipulate the testing processes, misrepresent test data and mislead the market'.
The companies all issued statements to the effect that they did not accept the findings of the inquiry, and they also denied Sadiq's requests for comment in the new documentary. As did the former housing secretary and Tory peer Eric Pickles, who Moore-Bick said had failed to act on a coroner's 2013 recommendation to tighten fire safety regulations after a similar, fatal fire at another London council block.
'The survivors and bereaved want accountability, they want criminal prosecutions,' Sadiq said. 'They joke that they want the police to watch this. As do I. How has no one been arrested yet? The lack of justice is incredibly upsetting for everyone.'
One bereaved person even showed Sadiq a photograph of how they received the remains of their loved one, an image the director said stayed in her head for a long time. 'You underestimate just how harrowing Grenfell was.'
If there's anything Sadiq hopes will come from the film, it's the acceleration of 'real change', including the removal of dangerous cladding which remains on thousands of buildings across the UK.
She added: 'I really hope that it helps survivors push for accountability. That it ignites conversations about our society, and the systemic issues that exist in this country.'
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