Can the camera lie?
Some thoughts about the british TV series, The Capture (2019)
The Capture, the latest British television series, explores what lies behind the security surveillance system that runs across the UK — the most monitored country in the world. It questions the effectiveness of the CCTV system and poses the problem that the power cameras can bestow upon those who have access to them.
The fiction follows in the footsteps of Shaun Emery, a British soldier imprisoned for killing a man in cold blood while he was serving in Afghanistan. However, as his brilliant barrister succeeds to demonstrate, his conviction was based only on video evidence, yet what the camera showed was not crystal clear. Therefore, he was accused and condemned on no solid ground. Emery’s fate resembles one of a Greek tragedy, because shortly after his release, he is dragged back to jail under the charge of kidnap of his own barrister, Hannah Roberts. The audience can easily empathize with the main character and suffer for the unmerited detention at the time they are eager to discover what really happened to the young lawyer and, more importantly, who has redacted the footage to incriminate poor Shaun.
But this is only the first of a long list of criminal activities whose recorded evidence is false in this cliff-hanger plot. The show slowly unveils and pulls all the strings that tie the knots behind the CCTV system and its hackers. Detective Rachel Carey is the rich and strong character committed to unlock the vast chain of secrets in this story. In fact, this determined strong woman does not only allow us, as viewers, to take a glimpse into the surveillance quarters, but also raises a very interesting question about power and how it is used. While Shaun spends chapters trying to find something that would prove his innocence, Rachel gets trapped into her own spider web.
It is thorough her quest that we are able to understand the power structure hidden behind what is, allegedly, set out to prevent terrorism and crime. CCTV cameras, whose facial recognition system can detect anyone in a matter of seconds, can be easily altered and be prejudicial for innocent people in a court of law. But more importantly, if video evidence can be redacted to make others believe something that did not happen, how can we rely on it? And if it is impossible to discern the fake video from the truthful one, why are we spending billions of pounds in surveillance cameras? Should they be taken down? Are they bringing more harm than benefits?
The series surely gives viewers a lot of food for thought but in its culmination, it provides an answer that is not as radical as one would have thought after watching the first chapters. In spite of undermining the concept of surveillance, the plot ends up by reaffirming that the means can be used for good ends, should they be placed in the right hands. Ironically, it seems like this intrusive technology made its way into the script, whose final words seem to have been redacted by the MI6.
