Grenfell Uncovered: Netflix documentary review 

Described as ‘heartwrenching and enraging’ by the critics, Netflix’s ‘Grenfell: Uncovered’ has spent another week dominating the Netflix top 10 charts. And with good reason.  

Whether or not you are a tenant or working in the housing sector, unless you have been living under a rock, you would have heard about Grenfell. The cladded tower block we watched burn on the news in 2017. Its 72 victims comprised of older people, children, disabled people and people of colour. The common denominator? They were all social housing tenants.  

After 7 years of slow inquiry in its aftermath and still no sign of justice, Netflix’s explosive documentary, ‘Grenfell: Uncovered’ has brought it back to the forefront of public discussion. A two-hour watch, this hard-hitting, emotional documentary offers a comprehensive picture of the context, what it was like for those who were there and the aftermath. It includes testimonials from firefighters who risked their lives to try and rescue those in the blaze, journalists and surviving tenants and their loved ones. 

Even the then-Prime Minister, Theresa May, makes a solemn appearance, expressing her regret that she “did the wrong thing” in failing to make a public appearance at the time of the incident, which was highly criticised.  

Watching the documentary with my family, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.  

Listening to the horrifying interviews of those who survived, one being Marcio Gomes; a father who attempted to rescue his two young daughters, Megan and Luana and his pregnant wife, Andreia, was particularly hard hitting. I shuddered as Luana, only a teenage girl at the time, described, through tears, having to step over “so many bodies” while escaping and was forced to leave behind the family dog she was carrying to die. She passed out shortly after. Omar, a young man who was rescued by firefighters, was forced to watch on from the ground as his brother perished inside. Ray, a beacon of the community was an elderly gentleman who died comforting the women and children who had sought refuge in his room. There was 12-year-old Jessica, who could not be found and died on the top floor. Zainab, who was on the phone to a fireman as her son, 2-year-old Jeremiah, died in her arms, only for her to pass shortly after. The firemen, who did everything they could at the time, were following the guidance and training they were given by seniors, are still haunted by the failures of the event. The survivor guilt clearly plagues those who survived. The agonising grief for those who didn’t is evident in their faces.  

Additionally, it exposes attitudes at the time from various political figures and contractors. A particularly chilling comment from Brian Martin, who was responsible for official guidance, when warned about potential fire risk, remarked “Show me the bodies”. The writing was on the wall. Those in power knew it. Tenants knew it. Grenfell Action Group, a tenant-led group, had even written a blog expressing their grave concerns around the cladding a few months prior, which was then subsequently blocked by the council.  Yet they were ultimately helpless and silenced to stop it from happening. Issues such as racism, classism and ableism are not skirted around in this documentary, but brought to light, particularly as tenants describe how the building was deemed as an eyesore for its richer neighbours, hence the calling for cladding. 

But most of all, I got angry. Angry that this could have been prevented in the first place. Angry that social housing tenants’ lives were not seen as worth what would have worked out at a cost of £40 per flat for safer, less flammable cladding-£5000 for the entire tower block. Furious at the grave injustice of these people who were ignored and helpless victims of Britain’s merciless class system. 

The documentary succeeds in highlighting just how avoidable this harrowing incident was. How tenant’s voices of concern were ignored, the greed of private contractors combined with the push at the time for de-regulation of building safety standards, which favoured economical gain over human lives. How the companies responsible for supplying the insulation and cladding for the building; Arconic, Celotex and Kingspan had recorded multiple fires in similar structures globally yet continued to manufacture and sell the lethal material. The “Stay put” fire safety guidance which was in place for tower block fires due to a lack of understanding around cladding and efficient training.  

In Wales, we will soon have a new Building Safety Bill, which aims to avoid ever repeating such a horrific incident ever again. A repetition of another tragedy is not something any landlord, council or tenant wants, let us be clear.  

I was 17 and beginning a long stretch of a post exam summer, when the news showed a fire ravaging a tower block, not unlike the ones I had seen around my city. Once the initial shock and horror passed, I had the privilege of being able to turn the television off and returning to whatever mundane teenage activity I was undertaking that day in my white, middle class and suburban neighbourhood. The news continued to churn out other stories. I knew it felt eerily poignant, yet ignorantly fleeting at the time. Now, aged 25 and working in the Social Housing sector myself, the victims still haven’t received justice. 

‘Grenfell: Uncovered’ serves as a stark reminder, seven years on, that these were people. People with dreams, hopes, families and aspirations. For those who have survived, their lives will never be the same again. If you are going to watch anything this week, I urge you to watch this documentary. And while it shouldn’t take a Netflix documentary to remind us of the 72 people whose lives were taken in a horrific fire, it has restarted public dialogue around tenant rights. One in which we must learn from and continue, for both the dead and the living. Fire doesn’t discriminate. But classism and prejudice does. And we must extinguish it and fight it where and when we can. Together.