Small Axe (BBC iPlayer) - five films dir by Steve McQueen
Dec 19, 2020 11:50:49 GMT
stu77 and AndoII like this
Post by Lord Emsworth on Dec 19, 2020 11:50:49 GMT
So far I've watched two of the five Small Axe films directed by Steve McQueen and currently on iPlayer
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p08vxt33/small-axe
Both have been superb...
Mangrove
Mangrove centres on the true story of Frank Crichlow (Shaun Parkes), who owns a Caribbean restaurant in Notting Hill called Mangrove. Like most black-owned businesses in racist 1970s society, Crichlow’s restaurant isn’t just a place to eat, but an important community hub for black locals, intellectuals and activists (including the glorious Black Panther and Black Mirror star Letitia Wright). But the business is subject to relentless police raids – so one day Crichlow and his friends decide to take to the streets and protest the racism so blatantly targeted at their community. This takes our protagonists to the courts, with nine people being arrested and charged with incitement to riot and affray.
Parkes and Wright’s performances are particularly outstanding, as they range through joy, pain, anger and struggle.
Red, White and Blue
Starts with the childhood of former Met police superintendent Leroy Logan (played by John Boyega). In Red, White and Blue, Logan is a forensic scientist who decides to go into the police force after he sees his father assaulted by two policemen. Logan naively believes that as a black man, he can change the racist institution from within – a notion that unsurprisingly leads to a painful family confrontation. Regardless, Logan continues into the force, where we follow his experiences of racism, his futile attempts to tackle it, and his eventual use as a prop for diversity hiring.
This film is a plunge into the 1980s – alongside the melancholy voice of Al Green, we get the look, feel and sound of Thatcher’s bleak Britain. It’s also a jarring reversal of Mangrove; rather than following a protagonist who has been unfairly targeted by the police, we instead watch criminal punishment play out through the eyes of law enforcement.
I look forward to the final three films
Lovers Rock
Alex Wheatle
Education
Which ones have you seen?
Or plan to watch?
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p08vxt33/small-axe
Both have been superb...
Mangrove
Mangrove centres on the true story of Frank Crichlow (Shaun Parkes), who owns a Caribbean restaurant in Notting Hill called Mangrove. Like most black-owned businesses in racist 1970s society, Crichlow’s restaurant isn’t just a place to eat, but an important community hub for black locals, intellectuals and activists (including the glorious Black Panther and Black Mirror star Letitia Wright). But the business is subject to relentless police raids – so one day Crichlow and his friends decide to take to the streets and protest the racism so blatantly targeted at their community. This takes our protagonists to the courts, with nine people being arrested and charged with incitement to riot and affray.
Parkes and Wright’s performances are particularly outstanding, as they range through joy, pain, anger and struggle.
Red, White and Blue
Starts with the childhood of former Met police superintendent Leroy Logan (played by John Boyega). In Red, White and Blue, Logan is a forensic scientist who decides to go into the police force after he sees his father assaulted by two policemen. Logan naively believes that as a black man, he can change the racist institution from within – a notion that unsurprisingly leads to a painful family confrontation. Regardless, Logan continues into the force, where we follow his experiences of racism, his futile attempts to tackle it, and his eventual use as a prop for diversity hiring.
This film is a plunge into the 1980s – alongside the melancholy voice of Al Green, we get the look, feel and sound of Thatcher’s bleak Britain. It’s also a jarring reversal of Mangrove; rather than following a protagonist who has been unfairly targeted by the police, we instead watch criminal punishment play out through the eyes of law enforcement.
I look forward to the final three films
Lovers Rock
Alex Wheatle
Education
Which ones have you seen?
Or plan to watch?