A BBC film crew is interviewing what they consider to be a typical Catholic family in the Divis Flats in Belfast when the news comes in a child known to the family has been hit by a plastic bullet fired by a British soldier. The British army, however, contests this version of events. Back in London, the producer and researcher editing the footage wrestle with how to present the incident, and with their responsibility to the family they filmed. The first fiction feature to be made under the British Workshop Declaration of the 1980s, ‘Acceptable Levels’ is a powerful meditation the ethics of filmmaking with working class communities, and presents a still-resonant critique of the mainstream media.