{"id":37543,"date":"2020-11-07T15:00:58","date_gmt":"2020-11-07T15:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/?p=37543"},"modified":"2020-11-07T15:00:58","modified_gmt":"2020-11-07T15:00:58","slug":"review-mangrove-steve-mcqueens-topical-courtroom-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/review-mangrove-steve-mcqueens-topical-courtroom-drama\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Mangrove &#8211; Steve McQueen&#8217;s topical courtroom drama"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>One of five films in director Sir Steve McQueen&#8217;s new anthology series, Small Axe, Mangrove chronicles the story of the Mangrove Nine in 1960s\/1970s London.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Mangrove<\/em> turns the story of a group of Black British activists, fighting back against racially motivated police raids, into an intense, taut sequence of courtroom showdowns.<\/p>\n<p>On the surface, a thrilling, politically-charged drama that &#8211; similarly to its real-life events &#8211; exposes police harassment of black Britons among London&#8217;s\u00a0West Indian community, McQueen&#8217;s impassioned movie episode goes beyond to give us a harsh, pertinent reminder of the reality we live in, closely related to the current Black Lives Matter protests that are ongoing in 2020, in its basis.<\/p>\n<p>Originally announced as a series for BBC One in 2015, the series was further acquired by Amazon Prime Videos in 2019 for distribution in the United States, with Amazon co-producing for its eventual festival and streaming release in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>The drama starts off in 1968 following Shaun Parke&#8217;s Frank, the owner of the titular restaurant in the film, as he walks the racially-tainted streets of the west London neighbourhood of Notting Hill; walls blighted with praise for Enoch Powell (a racist politician of the time) and messages of hate for the immigrants living in the community.<\/p>\n<p>Accompanying this is Bob Marley&#8217;s &#8220;Try Me&#8221;, a conflictingly vibrant sound.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Try Me\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/track\/32KXyHk20t2goleZkwaEQk?utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This sequence is followed by a voice-over quote from Trinidad-born historian C.L.R. James, informing us of &#8220;new types of human beings&#8221; in whom\u00a0\u201care to be found all the traditional virtues of the English nation, not in decay as they are in official society, but in full flower because these men have perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Right from its opening, <em>Mangrove<\/em> flaunts to its audience its dissentient with scenes from history, calling for a more thorough, fair, and responsible approach to explore the wrongs of the past, even in its dramatised telling, whilst showing an empathetic understanding for those involved.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiewire.com\/2020\/09\/small-axe-steve-mcqueen-interview-1234586832\/\">Mcqueen himself stated<\/a> it\u00a0could be a Western &#8211;\u00a0\u201cwith a guy opening a saloon, and the local sheriff is harassing him, and he goes all the way to the highest court in the land. These are universal stories.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here&#39;s <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TambayObenson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TambayObenson<\/a> talking to Steve McQueen about how he wound up with 5 new feature-length projects about Black British history, 3 of which premiere at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NYFF?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#NYFF<\/a> this week: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/iJ5HI3GNR0\">https:\/\/t.co\/iJ5HI3GNR0<\/a> via <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IndieWire?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@indiewire<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; erickohn (@erickohn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/erickohn\/status\/1306322739352006656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 16, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The film tells us this universal story of injustice, in the unjust display of anti-racist politics that were employed around the West-Indian community in Notting Hill and that further extended into the dissonant, incongruous atmosphere of the courtroom during the trials.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_40213\" style=\"width: 1079px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-40213\" class=\"size-full wp-image-40213\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2020\/11\/mangrove-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1069\" height=\"679\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2020\/11\/mangrove-1.jpg 1069w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2020\/11\/mangrove-1-300x191.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2020\/11\/mangrove-1-1024x650.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2020\/11\/mangrove-1-768x488.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1069px) 100vw, 1069px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-40213\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: BBC<\/p><\/div>\n<p>At the core of the film, Shaun Parkes&#8217; powerful, standout performance shines as the best among a talented cast, including the likes of Letitia Wright (<em>Black Panther<\/em>), Malachi Kirby (<em>Black Mirror<\/em>), Jack Lowden (<em>Dunkirk<\/em>), and even a cameo by Derek Griffiths (<em>Watership Down<\/em>) as aforementioned west-Indian historian C.L.R. James, whose quote follows the film&#8217;s opening.<\/p>\n<p>It is in the cast&#8217;s vivid, impassioned performances and Mcqueen&#8217;s bare, realist display of the incivilities enforced onto the Mangrove Nine, that the film&#8217;s intentions of bringing to light an educational message in learning from the past succeeds.<\/p>\n<p><em>Mangrove\u00a0<\/em>may feel all too much like a history lesson at times, but in its comprehensively unpleasant view of the past, it projects a message of education in righting the wrongs of the past that have carried on into the present, by hoping for a sense of modern change with posterity.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Tonight at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BFISouthbank?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BFISouthbank<\/a> &amp; in cinemas across the UK, we&#39;re delighted to open the 64th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AmexUK?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AmexUK<\/a> with Mangrove, Steve McQueen\u2019s rousing tale of Black solidarity and resistance <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LFF?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#LFF<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SmallAxe?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#SmallAxe<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/X8ytz7dOrN\">pic.twitter.com\/X8ytz7dOrN<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; BFI (@BFI) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BFI\/status\/1313872563102191616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 7, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Mangrove, which opened the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bfi.org.uk\/london-film-festival\">64th BFI London Film Festival<\/a> in October, premiered on 15 November 2020 on BBC One and premieres today, 20 November 2020, on Amazon Prime Video.<\/p>\n<p>[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SjFAEy-0BLk&amp;w=560&amp;h=315]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Where to watch Mangrove and the rest of Steve McQueen&#8217;s Small Axe anthology film series<\/strong><\/p>\n<table width=\"630\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"155\"><strong><em>Film title<\/em><\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"197\"><strong><em>UK release date (BBC One)<\/em><\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"278\"><strong><em>US release date (Amazon Prime Video)<\/em><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"155\">Mangrove<\/td>\n<td width=\"197\">15 November 2020<\/td>\n<td width=\"278\">20 November 2020<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"155\">Lovers Rock<\/td>\n<td width=\"197\">22 November 2020<\/td>\n<td width=\"278\">27 November 2020<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"155\">Red, White and Blue<\/td>\n<td width=\"197\">29 November 2020<\/td>\n<td width=\"278\">4 December 2020<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"155\">Alex Wheatle<\/td>\n<td width=\"197\">6 December 2020<\/td>\n<td width=\"278\">11 December 2020<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"155\">Education<\/td>\n<td width=\"197\">13 December 2020<\/td>\n<td width=\"278\">18 December 2020<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>Words: Ashvin Sivakumar | Subbing: Leah Trimmer<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of five films in director Sir Steve McQueen&#8217;s new anthology series, Small Axe, Mangrove chronicles the story of the Mangrove Nine in 1960s\/1970s London. Mangrove turns the story of a group of Black British&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":476,"featured_media":37555,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,42,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-entertainment","category-film-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/476"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}