Mangrove

MANGROVE. In yet another telling instance regarding the state of contemporary cinema, one more of its preeminent voices, Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave, 2013) has transitioned to the small screen. Collaborating with the BBC and Amazon, he has created a five-part anthology series (really five movies varying in length from 60 to 120 minutes) to be released weekly until mid-December. The project, Small Axe, draws its title from a Jamaican proverb and tells stories drawn from real life about London’s West Indian immigrant community between the late 1960s and early 1980s. The first installment, Mangrove, is a feature-length episode and introduces us to the vibrant Notting Hill neighborhood, circa 1969. Frank Crichlow (Shaun Parkes) prepares for the grand opening of the titular restaurant, serving Caribbean food and serving as a gathering place for the mostly recent émigrés of the area. Frank, we learn tangentially, had previously operated an establishment called the Rio, which came to the attention of the constabulary as a gambling den where drugs may or may not have been available. And so, based on that history but mainly on virulent systemic racism, the police come down hard on Frank and his restaurant. Led by the repellent P.C. Pulley (Sam Spruell), they conduct a number of baseless raids and arrests, waging a campaign of terror and oppression with no clear recourse for the victims. The constant harassment scares away the restaurant’s customers, leaving Frank disempowered and enraged. Enter Altheia Jones (Letitia Wright), a representative of the Black Panthers dispatched to Notting Hill to advise laborers of their rights, and Darcus Howe (Malachi Kirby), a charismatic Trinidadian who refuses to submit to the legacy of discrimination inherent in British culture. They begin to give voice to the frustrations and rage of their community, eventually organizing a protest and march to the steps of the police station. The demonstration boils over into off-screen violence and the police seize the opportunity to respond with force. A number of the protestors are arrested and nine, Crichlow, Jones and Howe among them, are charged with inciting a riot. Further, they are to be tried in the Old Bailey, London’s central criminal court, usually reserved for the trials of murder, treason and the like. The trial of the Mangrove Nine, which takes place over the course of several months, finds the defendants fighting not only for their freedom, but also to illuminate the…



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