Black Mirror: Bandersnatch - review of the Netflix film

Adrenaline, a crisis of conscience and the desire to start over from the beginning: this leaves Black Mirror: Bandersnatch once the end credits have been completed, and we could potentially revisit it indefinitely without the risk of getting bored because the new Netflix film born from the mind of Charlie Brooker arrived today (December 28) on the streaming service is nothing less than a Choose Your Own Adventure, a work that allows its viewer to choose the adventure that the protagonist will be forced to live.

Fionn Whitehead (who debuted in the world of cinema thanks to Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk ) plays the part of our ill-conceived decisions as the young Stefan Butler, an aspiring videogame programmer in England in 1984.
With him there is Will Poulter ( Revenant - Reviving ) as the boy prodigy of Colin Ritman programming.
Stefan has psychological problems presumably due to the disappearance of his mother and is fond of interactive books, the so-called Choose Your Own Adventure precisely, and wants to turn his favorite, Bandersnatch , into a video game.
He proposes it to the leading production company in the market and gets the job.
From this point on there is no pre-established plot: you decide.

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From the ideological point of view Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is extremely self-referential.
Netflix allows us to command a character who is in turn producing an interactive work.
Like a matryoshka, there is always a new meta-level that does nothing but talk about itself, its function and its nature. Bandersnatch talks about himself, about the game, about the movie, he talks about Black Mirror (referring to other episodes like Metalhead and Nosedive ) and he even talks about Netflix .

Because of its intricate nature it is practically impossible to speak of history from a critical point of view.
The writer has tried to explore different options, different paths and possibilities to get different results and only one thing you can be sure: whatever decision you choose to take, you will never be disappointed.
Each choice leads to different versions of the same Universe, each of which is consistent with what has happened before and will be consistent with what is to come.
The intent of Bandersnatch was to create a Choose Your Own Adventure that would not give the spectator's attention and there is no doubt that he succeeded.

We can not but be impressed: the work of production, screenplay and acting is mammoth.
His young protagonist - who will undoubtedly have a brilliant career ahead of him - offers us an endless version of his Stefan, always disturbed by his past, unsettled by his present and uncertain about his future.
Poulter , on the other hand, brings on screen a neurotic and conscious genius of his existence (true, interactive or fictional) and as a spiritual guide and of the game directs Stefan to the next step.

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The acquisition of Black Mirror by Netflix has not had many fans over the years.
Spectators were divided - as often happens - among the purists (who discovered Black Mirror in 2011 and who experienced the change of tone in a drastic way) and those who discovered the jewel of Brooker late, with years of arrears and that they have experienced its movement on the platform as a normal consequence of the hegemony of the streaming service.
Within this change of tone (which has been there and which has undoubtedly made Black Mirror less interesting) there have been some rare pearls.
Let's talk about the special Christmas White Christmas , the unsettling Shut Up and Dance , the little visionary but extremely realistic Hated in the Nation and the revolutionary USS Callister .
All the other episodes are works of immense value, no doubt, but they did not stand comparison with what had been.

Now Black Mirror: Bandersnatch changes the rules of the game.
Only Netflix could have created such a product and for this we are grateful.
The film is a work that will be emulated in the coming times with less brilliant copies, it is a perfectly successful experiment.
Above all it is what Black Mirror has always been: innovation. Innovation in the story, innovation in history, innovation in experience.