Vintage hysteria.

"While not primarily intended as prophecy, Watkins's tale of Shorter's reign and fall has resonances of celebrity activism from Bob Geldof to globe-hopping lobbyist Bono." - Bill Weber

One of the few failures within Peter Watkins' career, where attempting to sow together Watkins' pseudodocumentary style with a story creates an awkwardly put'together film. Its also one of the few times Watkins' ideas miss the mark; some of the ideas of how music can be used to control people are strong but it becomes too obvious to be realistic. Even if there are blatant examples of pushing conservative ideas onto youths in reality, the example shown in the film dangerously veers into kitsch.

Surprisingly not engaging

Fascinating and atmospheric, without ever veering into mere camp, PRIVILEGE remains undated and surprisingly prescient at predicting the rise of the pop star as icon.