Mangrove
Set from 1968 to 1971 in Notting Hill in London, the film revolves around a real-life story in which a Trinidadian immigrant in Frank Crichlow (Shaun Parkes) opens a West Indian restaurant for his community where it would be continuously raided by the police leading to protests and eventually a court battle against the police. It is a film that plays into a racially-motivated incident that has the police raiding against a restaurant with claims of criminal activity where Crichlow and several others in the community stage a protest that unfortunately got violent where Crichlow and eight others defend themselves in court with Ian McDonald (Jack Lowden) representing them as their attorney. The screenplay explore these events where the British-born activist Barbara Beese (Rochenda Sandall), the Trinidadian Black Panther leader Altheia Jones-LeCointe (Letitia Wright), the Trinidadian activist Darcus Howe (Malachi Kirby), Crichlow, and five others were put on trial as they accuse Constable Pulley (Sam Spruell) of harassment.
McQueen’s direction is riveting in the way it explores this community as it is shot in areas near Notting Hill with recreations of the restaurant that is known as Mangrove. McQueen maintains an intimacy throughout the film with his close-ups and medium shots including scenes inside the restaurant where people are eating food and listening and dancing to Caribbean music including reggae and soul. McQueen would infuse wide shots for scenes outside of the restaurant and in the areas of Notting Hill as well as the courthouse where the Mangrove Nine trial happened. McQueen would create compositions that add to the drama as well as this exploration of how the Mangrove Nine would defend themselves in court with Jones-LeCointe and Howe both representing themselves. McQueen reveals that the Mangrove Nine had a lot going up against them including Judge Edward Clarke (Alex Jennings) who oversees the trial with a jury that only featured two black people.
Lovers Rock
Set in 1980, the film revolves around a house party to celebrate a young woman’s birthday as many partygoers attend this party including a couple of women wanting to have a good time. It is a film that is told in the span of a day where a young woman sneaks out of her house to go to this house party where she bumps into a former boyfriend while meeting a man whom she would fall in love with. It also play into this simmering tension among former lovers as well as unexpected visitors who want to cause trouble. The film’s screenplay by Steve McQueen and Courttia Newland doesn’t have much of a plot as it follows the lives of a few people with Martha Trenton (Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn) going to this party with her friend Patty (Shaniqua Okwok) as it is also a birthday party for a young woman in Cynthia (Ellis George) that is hosted by a few people. Much of the film takes place in and out of the house as people drink, eat, and smoke while listening to all sorts of music as things would also be filled with bits of trouble.
McQueen’s direction is intoxicating in the way it captures the atmosphere of a party as the music soundtrack is a key part of the film as it ranges from soul, disco, reggae, and dub. While there are a few wide shots in the film to establish a few bits of the location in and out of the house, much of McQueen’s direction is intimate with its close-ups and medium shots that also include these extreme close-ups of walls where the heat starts to show as well as body parts grinding on one another. Even as McQueen would use different shooting styles ranging from hand-held to static shots as it play into the atmosphere of the parties. Even as Martha gets an unexpected visit from her grieving cousin Clifton (Kedar Williams-Stirling) while also bumping into a former boyfriend in Bammy (Daniel Francis-Swaby) who would eventually cause some trouble. McQueen also maintains this sense of community within the party as the music also help drive the emotional elements of the film as it also leads to a sense of growth for Martha and the man she falls in love with in Franklyn Cooper (Micheal Ward).
Red, White and Blue
Set in the early 1980s, the film is about the real-life story of Leroy Logan (John Boyega) whose father Ken (Steve Toussaint) had been assaulted by a couple of white police officers as Leroy would join the police force in the hopes to bring change from within. It is a film that begins in the 1960s when a young Leroy (Nathan Vidal) is waiting for his dad to pick him up at school where he is questioned by a couple of officers until Ken arrives where things don’t go well for Ken as he would struggle to deal with the police until being assaulted as he sues them in court which makes the adult Leroy’s journey in becoming a police officer difficult. The film’s screenplay by Steve McQueen and Courttia Newland reveal the tension between father and son as the latter is trying to bring reform to an already complicated situation as the only other non-white officer he works with is the Pakistani Asif Kamali (Assad Zaman) who would also endure his own brush with racist attitudes from fellow officers.
McQueen’s direction is sparse in terms of its compositions while there are elements of style as McQueen aims for something that is intimate but also tense in its medium shots and close-ups as it plays into Logan entering into a chaotic system. McQueen also create these eerie compositions that play into the tension within the Logan family home as well as a holiday dinner with a family friend where both father and son are not saying anything to one another with Leroy not wanting to upset his father any further. Leroy’s hope in being an officer to ease tension between the police and non-white communities is a challenge where many blacks refuse to be around him with a young black man who was assaulted by white cops calling Leroy a traitor. McQueen also reveals the difficulty of a man trying to get his day in court as he is forced to face things beyond his control and not even his son could do anything. Its ending is more about these two men and the obstacles they face in a world where no matter how things change. There are things that wouldn’t change.
Alex Wheatle
Set in the late 70s and early 1980s, the film is about the early life of the revered young adult novelist as he struggles with trying to find his identity and roots during a prison sentence. It is a film that showcases a man who had been abandoned when he was a baby and put into foster care as a child only to struggle with authority and the world around him as a young man until he finds a home in Brixton that is predominantly black filled with Jamaicans and Africans. Living with these residents, the titular character (Sheyi Cole) struggles to adapt at first while he aspires to become a deejay with fellow residents until events of January 18, 1981 in which 13 kids were killed at a house party by a firebombing that lead to the Brixton uprising in April of that year. The script by McQueen and Siddons opens with Wheatle entering prison where he shares a cell with Simeon (Robbie Gee) who is dealing with the effects of a hunger strike as he asks Wheatle about his life story as the narrative moves back and forth with Wheatle’s life to his imprisonment. Even as it showcases Wheatle trying to find this identity as he is surrounded by people that is either in the drug trade or in the music trade.
McQueen’s direction is striking in the way he frames Wheatle in the opening shot as he’s shirtless and the next shot is a wide shot as he’s wearing his prison clothes as he walks to his cell with a guard. The direction also showcases this world of late 70s/early 80s Brixton where McQueen shows a world that is changing but also filled with tension with Wheatle being new to an environment that is largely black with much of its music soundtrack is reggae. Even as McQueen uses some unique shots and compositions that play into Wheatle’s plight as well as this sense of claustrophobia in scenes of Wheatle in his cell with Simeon as it play into a man that is trapped in a world of confusion but with someone who is on the path to finding himself. Even as Wheatle would eventually find something in his life to express himself and find out his identity.
Education
A young boy living in the London suburbs is sent from a traditional school to a school with claims of special needs when the reality is that the school is one of neglect and sub-standard education. Set in the early 1970s, the film explores a young boy whose inability to read properly as well as having a lively behavior as he gets transferred to a school with other children with behavioral issues as well as those with low IQs with some of whom being black and of those of West Indian descent. The screenplay by Steve McQueen and Alastair Siddons focuses on this boy in Kingsley Smith (Kenyah Sandy) who has trouble adjusting to the new school knowing how unruly it is and the fact that the teachers really don’t teach at all where his mother Agnes (Sharlene Whyte) would learn about this from an activist in Lydia Thomas (Josette Simon) who is concerned over Kingsley as she had her friend in activist Hazel (Naomi Ackie) visit the school secretly to learn what Kingsley is learning. For Agnes, the revelations about why her son is sent to the school is alarming as it plays into an unjust system that would put children who don’t meet certain requirements the ability to fail in their lives.
McQueen’s direction definitely maintains this intimacy as it opens with Kingsley and his classmates watching a documentary on the universe as McQueen aims for a close-up in showing Kingsley’s expression. Yet, it is contrast to the way he would film Kingsley as he struggles to read a paragraph while the teacher calls him a blockhead as he would be humiliated in a medium close-up shot. Much of McQueen’s direction is straightforward in its compositions as there a few wide shots including an early scene of Kingsley being a bit unruly during music class while the scenes at a classroom at this special school does have a claustrophobic feel in terms of the sense of oppression he and his fellow classmates feel. The film is also given this unique feel as it is shot on 16mm to evoke the look of British television during the 1970s as a way to present a look of the past where McQueen would also showcase a world where working class West Indian immigrants are forced to see a reality that they couldn’t deal with. One where no matter how hard their children work in school, the system doesn’t do anything for them though it is through a community of people that would find a way where McQueen does provide a hopeful ending.
The overall presentation of the film series which explores the lives of West Indian immigrants from the late 1960s to the early 1980s showcases different people dealing with not just racism and class struggles but also their need to express who they are and their roots not just for themselves but also the next generation. McQueen would shoot all of the films in these areas in London that is part of a world where these people can express themselves and feel like they’re part of a community that is also inclusive to anyone that wants to be part of it as long as they’re respectful. While a lot of the tone of the films are serious and bleak to explore the black experience, there is this sense of hope in the endings but also a few that are ambiguous as it relates to the historical elements in these films. Overall, McQueen crafts a tremendously rich and intoxicating film series about the life of black West Indian immigrants in London during the late 1960s to the early 1980s.
Cinematographer Shabier Kirchner does phenomenal work with the film’s cinematography with its emphasis on low-key colors for the exteriors and low-key natural lighting for the scenes at night to play into the atmosphere of the rooms or homes that these characters are in. Editors Chris Dickens and Steve McQueen do incredible work with the editing as it has these stylish cuts to play into drama and some of the intense moments of suspense as well as scenes that showcase this sense of historical drama that looms throughout the film. Production designer Helen Scott, with set decorator Hannah Spice and supervising art director Adam Marshall, does brilliant work with the look of the places these characters live in or hang out as it plays into a world that was vibrant but also unruly considering the chaos these people endure from the police. Costume designers Lisa Duncan, Jacqueline Durran, and Sinead Kidao do excellent work with Duncan creating unique early 70s costumes for Mangrove while Durran does a lot of the costumes for Lovers Rock and Alex Wheatle to play into the vibrancy of the music these characters listen with Kidao doing the costumes for Red, White and Blue and Education to play into the world of suburbia.
Hair/makeup designer JoJo Williams does fantastic work with the look of the hairstyles of the times from the afros to the dreadlocks that both men and women had in those times. Special effects supervisors Scott MacIntyre, Steve Bowman, and Elly Dunsire, along with visual effects supervisors John Paul Docherty and Marc Hutchings, do nice work with some of the film’s visual effects as it is largely set dressing as well as some bits involving explosion in the riots. Sound mixer Ronald Bailey does superb work with the film’s sound as it plays into the atmosphere of the locations as well as how music is sound from afar or in a room as it is a highlight of the film series. The film’s music by Mica Levi is amazing for its low-key ambient music score as it appears in bits of episodes of the series while music supervisors Ed Bailie and Abi Leland create an immense music soundtrack that largely features reggae, soul, pop, and rock as it plays into the music of those times as it is a key factor to the film.
The casting by Gary Davy is marvelous as it features a massive ensemble for the five films that are presented in this film series. From Mangrove, the wonderful supporting performances of Jack Lowden as the barrister Ian MacDonald who defends the Mangrove Nine, Gershwin Eustache Jr. as Altheia’s husband, Richard Cordery as an older defense barrister in Mr. Croft, Llewella Gordon as Aunt Betty who helps run Crichlow’s restaurant, Sam Spruell as Police Constable Frank Pulley who has antagonized Crichlow and many others, Samuel West as the prosecuting barrister, and Alex Jennings as Judge Edward Clarke who handles the Mangrove Nine case.
In the roles of members who are part of the Mangrove Nine, the performances Jumayn Hunter, Duane Facey-Pearson, Richie Campbell, Darren Braithwaite, and Nathaniel Martello-White in their respective roles as Godfrey Millett, Rupert Boyce, Rothwell Kentish, Anthony Carlisle Innis, and Rhodan Gordon who are superb in their roles as five men trying to defend themselves. Finally, there’s the quartet of Rochenda Sandall, Shaun Parkes, Malachi Kirby, and Letitia Wright in incredible performances in their respective roles as the British-born activist Barbara Beese, the restaurant owner Frank Crichlow, the Trinidadian activist Darcus Howe, and the Trinidadian Black Panther leader Altheia Jones-LeCointe as these four people who are trying to live their lives with Crichlow being a man just wanting to run a restaurant as it plays into the racial tension of the early 1970s.
From Lovers Rock, the film features some notable small roles from the legendary Barbados-born musician Dennis Bovell as a party goer, Frankie Fox as Franklyn’s boss at a garage, Shaniqua Okwok as Martha’s friend Patty, Ellis George as the birthday woman in Cynthia who would have a bad encounter with Bammy, and Dennis Francis-Swaby as Martha’s former boyfriend Bammy who would try to have his way with women only to cause a lot of trouble. Kedar Williams-Smith is fantastic as Martha’s grieving cousin Clifton who would also cause trouble but also a moment where he has everyone at the party to yell as it relates to the music. The duo of Micheal Ward and Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn in great performances in their respective roles as Franklyn Cooper and Martha Trenton as two people who would meet and fall in love at this house party as they deal with the turmoil around them but also find something that would give them a future on this night of mayhem.
From Red, White and Blue, small performances from Nathan Vidal as the young Leroy, Jaden Oshenye as the young Leee John, Nadine Marshall as Leroy’s aunt Jesse, Tyrone Huntley as Leroy’s cousin in Leee John who at the time was the lead singer for the popular 80s British soul group Imagination, Antonia Thomas as Leroy’s wife Gretl, and Joy Richardson as Leroy’s mother Mrs. Logan as they’re all wonderful in their small supporting roles. Other noteworthy supporting roles include Assad Zaman as a British-Pakistani officer in Asif Kamali who struggles with his work due to the racism he endures, Neil Maskell as Inspector Willis who is Leroy’s supervisor who is sympathetic to the struggles Leroy faces, and Stephen Boxer as a chief inspector who sees Leroy’s entry as good publicity despite the racial tension between the police and community.
Steve Toussaint’s performance as Leroy’s father Ken Logan is phenomenal as a man who has an immense distrust towards the police due to his own encounters while also troubled by the fact that his son has joined the police force. Finally, there’s John Boyega in a spectacular performance as Leroy Logan who joins the police force despite his intelligence in forensics and athletic skills has him conflicted in being this poster boy while also dealing with the fact that making change from within is way more difficult than he realizes.
In Alex Wheatle, the small performances from Fumilayo Brown-Olateju as a neighbor in Dawn, Khali Best as a dealer in Badger, Jonathan Jules as a neighbor/activist in Dennis Issacs who would teach Wheatle the way adapt in Brixton, Johann Meyers as the drug dealer Cutlass Rankin who is suspicious of Wheatle at first only to accept him, and Asad-Shareef Muhammad as the young Wheatle. Robbie Gee is brilliant as Wheatle’s cellmate Simeon as a man dealing with food poisoning but also listens to Wheatle’s story as he gives him advice about finding roots as well as giving Wheatle the chance to find his identity for himself. Finally, there’s Sheyi Cole in a tremendous performance as the titular character as a young man struggling to find his identity and roots while also dealing with the world around him as it is this chilling and fierce performance from Cole. In Education, the small performances from Kate Dickie as a teacher in Mrs. Gill, Jade Anouka as a teacher at the special school in Mrs. Morrison, Stewart Wright as a teacher at the special school in Mr. Baines who does the most boring rendition of The House of the Rising Sun, Ryan Masher and Jairaj Varsani as a couple of Kingsley’s classmates at school, the quartet of Tabitha Byron, Roshawn Hewitt, Aiyana Goodfellow, and Nathan Moses as Kingsley’s classmates at this special school, and Adrian Rawlins as the school headmaster who suggest that Kingsley goes to this special school.
The trio of Jo Martin, Naomi Ackie, and Josette Simon are amazing in their respective roles as the teacher Mrs. Tabitha Bartholomew, the activist Hazel, and the organizer Lydia Thomas with Martin playing a teacher at a Saturday school who would prove to be helpful for Kingsley while Ackie’s performance as this activist who pretends to be a school psychologist is someone who got a closer look into the school that Kingsley is in. Simon’s performance as Thomas is one of grace and restraint as a woman who went to Kingsley’s mother while also organizing a meeting with other parents and people in the community who reveal a lot of revelations about the school system.
Daniel Francis and Sharlene Whyte are remarkable in their respective roles as Kingsley’s parents Esmond and Agnes with the former being convinced that his son needs to learn a trade only to realize the unjust system Kingsley is a part of while the latter is a woman that is trying to work for her family as she learns about Kingsley’s learning disabilities and what goes on at the school he’s been transferred to. Tamara Lawrence is fantastic as Kingsley’s teenage sister Stephanie who learns what happens to her younger brother but also a system that doesn’t help him. Finally, there’s Kenyah Sandy in a sensational performance as Kingsley Smith as young boy who has learning disabilities and an exuberant behavior who has trouble being transferred to a new school that not only does nothing for him but also keeps him back due to a terrible educational system that is definitely racist.
Small Axe is an outstanding film anthology series from Steve McQueen. Featuring a tremendous ensemble cast, gorgeous visuals, stories about black life in Britain from the late 1960s to the early 1980s, and a rapturous music soundtrack. The film series is something that audiences need to see to get a glimpse into a world that isn’t talked about much as it relates to current events around to prove that not much has changed since. In the end, Small Axe is a magnificent film series from Steve McQueen.
Steve McQueen Films: Hunger (2008 film) - Shame (2011 film) - 12 Years a Slave - Widows (2018 film) - (Uprising (2022 film)) – (Occupied City) - (Blitz)
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I really need to catch up on these. I like McQueen's work and I really enjoyed Lovers Rock.
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