Shame director Steve McQueen on why his new 4-and-a-half-hour documentary is worth the length

Feb. 9, 2024

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Steve McQueen’s latest film sees the past collide with the present. The acclaimed director of Shame and12 Years a Slavereturns to the big screen with Occupied City, an almost four-and-a-half-hour-long documentary about the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam.

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Speaking to GamesRadar+ during the BFI London Film Festival, the director says he views it as a reminder of everything we take for granted in modern life. “It’s something you’ve just got to be reminded of – actually what happened to get us to this point, and how I’m going to maintain that freedom from pending dangers which are around us.”

Memories and ghosts thrive in the film as the narration relays stories of resistance, collaboration, bravery, and denial as it travels to over 130 addresses in the city. For McQueen, it was an opportunity to give a window into that tumultuous period, as well as hold a mirror up to its relevance to the present day.

“With the example of our film, by coincidence of course, it’s almost like history repeating itself a little bit,” he continues. “If you remain passive, things are gonna happen. You’ve got no one else to blame other than yourselves, you can’t just turn your back.”

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The narrative of Stigter’s book leans into the factual, sharing incredible true stories, and that’s something that both she and McQueen wanted to keep in its visual retelling. Actor Melanie Hyams lends her voice to the project, which treads the line between cold facts and personal trauma.

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“Well, it can’t not be unemotional, but how Bianca wrote it in the book was very factual,” McQueen explains, as Stigter adds: “I think with this kind of subject matter, all you have to do is let it speak for itself. Then [you] try to be very open to all the emotions. You don’t need us to tell you and warn you – the material will do it itself.”

With such heavy and detailed subject matter, it’s little surprise that the film is McQueen’s longest to date, at a hefty four hours and 22 minutes. When it’s shown in cinemas, it will be aired with an interval in the middle, but such a runtime may be quite an overwhelming prospect. However, as the filmmakers point out, this is kind of the point.

McQueen explains that they filmed enough for a 36-hour version of the documentary, but they whittled it down in its final cut. “Length is not a deterrent,” he tells GR+. “What it is, is this subject matter is asking us to look at it in this way. This couldn’t be an hour-and-a-half movie. In fact, it’d be a disservice to it.”

Stigter agrees, adding that it adds to the intended impact of the film. “I think the material and the way it was done demands that kind of length,” she says. “It’s not something snappy, it’s something deep that you can really let yourself be overwhelmed by.”

Occupied City is in UK and Irish cinemas now and available to buy on streaming in the US. To see what else you should be watching at the cinema, be sure to check out ourBig Screen Spotlightseries.

I’m the Deputy Entertainment Editor here at GamesRadar+, covering TV and film for the Total Film and SFX sections online. I previously worked as a Senior Showbiz Reporter and SEO TV reporter at Express Online for three years. I’ve also written for The Resident magazines and Amateur Photographer, before specializing in entertainment.

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