Steve McQueen – Small Axe anthology film series #4 “Alex Wheatle”…

 The penultimate film in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe series is about how the Jamaican, Alex Wheatle (born 1963), changed his life after being encouraged in prison to understand his history.

 

Sheyi Cole as Alex Wheatle

Wheatle had been writing lyrics about everyday life in Brixton, south London and was working as a DJ … but when the Brixton riot of 1981 was going on he saw the police beating up a friend … he retaliates ending up in prison.

 

Bob Marley statue in 
Kingston, Jamaica by
Alvin Marriott

His cellmate an educated Rastafarian, encourages him to see the future through reading more, expanding and caring about his education, as well as his own future and others’ lives: over which he will have influence (whether he goes back to his old ways, or changes while he has the chance) …

Chester Himes in 1946

 … he is able to read authors such as Chester Himes, Richard Wright, CLR James (1901 - 1989) {living for a while in Brixton} and John Steinbeck … but it is Himes (1909 – 1984) who truly influences Wheatle …

 

… there are similarities … British prison life v American penitentiary … Wheatle for a short time, but long enough to learn so much … and Himes for much longer, though his term was paroled …

 

C L R James

… they were both able to write and took time in prison to improve their talent, submit stories to magazines, while earning respect for this ability.

 

Brixton Riots 1981 - showing police
cordon with shields

Wheatle is in London, Himes was in London, Ohio … but Himes’ stories were violent … about police treatment, race relations, Jim Crow laws …

 

Himes’ Harlem Detective novels (Harlem Renaissance time frame) further inspired Wheatle in his approach to crime novels, and encouraged him to stretch his literary abilities …

Three Women in Harlem c 1925

 

Wheatle’s life story features as this fourth film in the Small Axe series … the settings are real-life, but sparse … it is eye-opening … as my curiosity has expanded … I’ve been absorbed exploring …

 

The last film tonight will be ‘Education’ … which I’m sure will open my eyes even further …

 

Steve McQueen’s filmography is exceptional … the scenes are well staged and touching … which will remind us about the challenge some peoples encounter in their lives … and, I hope, wonder if we can help change this narrative by educating ourselves.

 

Wheatle's 'The
Guardian's' Children's
Ficton Prize

Alex Wheatle is now an author, crime novelist, children’s author, playwright, with a recognised voice who is empowering those who will listen to think about life and how it works …

 

This film in the Small Axe series … dramatically shows us how Wheatle fell in love with reading the works by black writers and other authors new to him … and then learnt to adapt his writing style …

 

I’m going to watch this evening’s film … and as I’ve come to appreciate a great deal more from McQueen’s approach to story-telling, as well as things I’ve found out about crime-writing … I’ll be back with more posts …

 

Alex Wheatle's first thriller

A couple of links to explore or refer back to … there are others … but as most of our minds are rather fractured at the moment, despite the season, I’ll leave you with these …

 AlexWheatle, and

 Alex Wheatlethe film …

 Article byVincent Dowd, Arts correspondent, BBC News on an interview with Alex Wheatle on why the 'amazing Chester Himes' should be better known ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Steve McQueen – Small Axe anthology film series #2: “Lovers Rock”; and #3 “Red, White and Blue” …

 

Two more of the Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen’s deeply personal accounts of the black British experience in the 1980s continue …

 

“Lovers Rock” – I hate to say it … but I couldn’t get my head into this one –there was no narrative, music I didn’t understand … I fell asleep at the beginning, woke up to see and hear a 5 minute segment of, as far as I was concerned, repetitive song where a house-full young dancers were living life in the early 1980s (when I was no longer living in England) … and of course didn’t finish watching.

 

However having read the outstanding reviews etc – I needed to understand at least – “Lovers Rock” will never be my cup of tea … but I can learn about the challenges faced by the Caribbean or African peoples …

 

Lovers Rock music is a reggae style noted for its romantic sound and content,  exemplified by the British 1979 hit ‘Silly Games’ by Janet Kay;  its roots lie in the rock steady era … when Ken Boothe, Johnny Nash and John Holt enjoyed international hits with versions of well-known love songs.

 

The Lovers ... via a newspaper image taken by me

The setting is a ‘blues party’ in a West Indian household near Ladbroke Grove – where guests are charged for entrance, booze and food … a DJ blasts out Jamaican reggae infused with American soul … causing the residents and dancers to move rhythmically slowly into near spiritual ecstasy.

 

The lovers are part of this heady world … and we follow their nascent relationship unfolding against this background … over one long night.

 

The Jamaican - Ken Boothe

The Guardian’s review waxes lyrical about McQueen’s film making … the way he brings the period and location to life, along with the very personal representation of how life was lived … party, to racism from the locals, to prejudice from the police, to church … all coming about through these party-houses because black people felt unwelcome in mostly white nightclubs.

 

“Red, White and Blue” … I did enjoy … especially as I’d done my homework and knew where the lead character, Leroy Logan, was heading in his life. 

 

John Boyega as Leroy Logan.
again from a photo of a newspaper image

I might otherwise have been disappointed in the paucity of the story … as we’re only given the first few working years of a former Metropolitan Policeman’s life – a black police officer in an essentially white force.

 

But, as you might expect, the story telling was excellent … Leroy Logan, the son of Jamaican parents, achieved a scientific degree,  held a job as a research assistant … before giving it all up and joining the police – we witness his family’s exasperation as he apparently gives up his all - a successful forensics job.

 

He had witnessed his father being viciously attacked, and understood the loathing of law enforcement sensed by his community, but felt he wanted to change people’s outlooks from within the Metropolitan Police. 

He ends up being rejected for promotion – albeit being the top, if not the top, achieving officer … wanting to step over the line, but refusing to do so … so started his career – the endless grind of getting up each morning, priming his uniform … ready for each very challenging day: both from within and without.

 

John Boyega filming c/o We Live
Entertainment

He faces racist insults from his colleagues, and open rejection from his community.  We see the story slowly unfold … John Boyega playing Leroy Logan, making every scene painfully real … in this fact based drama.

 

The film is not long – but hits home, while we understand he rose, with tenacity, through the ranks to become a former superintendent in the London Metropolitan Police and was both a founding member of the Black Police Association and its chair for 30 years.

 

He has been described as “one of the Black officers who helped change the Met” … I would hope that his and McQueen’s influence continues to change our perceptions and understanding of human life.

 

Traditional Blue Lamp
outside most police stations

Leroy Logan has, in conjunction with McQueen, recently published his autobiography “Closing Ranks: My Life as a Cop” …

 

… there’s admiration here from McQueen who himself  has done so much for black film, cinema and black issues within black diaspora.

 

Last night was the 4^th film of the series of 5 … which will be another interesting aspect of black British life … which is so informative for us in this day and age.

 

McQueen in 2013 with
Michael Fassbender

I will do a more informed write up on Steve McQueen’s career – so I can learn, but then if you wish you too can appreciate his amazing abilities in the creative world. 

 

I’m finding the experience of  Steve McQueen’s work extraordinary as I explore more about his experimentation and slow development into becoming a filmmaker – though, despite that success, the artistic talent has not dimmed.  He is constantly exploring and breaking new creative ground.

Small Axe Mini-series summary and links ... 

We Live Entertainment ... 'Small Axe' Review of Red, White and Blue ...

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Steve McQueen – Small Axe anthology film series #1: “The Mangrove Nine” …

 

Mesmerising … two hours of complete spellbinding tv … stunningly documented …

 

Sir Steve McQueen with his Oscar
for 12 Years a Slave

I was bowled over … an incredible film … it felt so real – and has had outstanding reviews.  It is a film for everyone – about Caribbean people’s history in Britain that has never been brought to life and should be available for us to understand the struggles of their backstory.

 

The storyline is ‘perfect’ for a film to tell the narrative of a ground-breaking true life drama … with excellent acting – I really can’t praise it enough.

 

The actors as defendants in the film
c/o Bustle media

One member of the Mangrove Nine was a friend of Steve McQueen’s father … while his parents were part of that community during the late 1960s and 1970s … so the Mangrove Nine’s landmark 1970 Old Bailey trial would have been well known to McQueen’s family …

 

Frank Crichlow, who owned and set up The Mangrove’s Caribbean restaurant, became a community activist, after racially motivated police persecuted him, his friends and the restaurant.

Shaun Parkes plays
Frank Crichlow

 

The restaurant was over the years a meeting place for the Black community in the area, as well as for white radicals, artists, authors, and musicians. 

 

Vanessa Redgrave at Cannes 2016

Famous customers included Jimi Hendrix, Nina Simone, Bob Marley, Vanessa Redgrave, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Sammy Davis Jr and many activists, journalists and historians from Britain, South Africa, Australia, Trinidad, Guyana …  

Jimi Hendrix (1967)

... a small newspaper, The Hustler, was published on the premises, underlining the community aspect of the restaurant – which also served as the informal head for the Notting Hill Carnival.

 

Some links I give below give more background to this fascinating story, but I thought I’d relate back to the posts of my recent return visit to Notting Hill where I lived back in the 1970s and to my visit that day to Tate Modern – when I first encountered Steve MacQueen’s Small Axe series.

 

Part of Tate Modern's brochure
regarding McQueen's exhibition
earlier in 2020 - and where I first
came across the mini series "Small Axe"

I gave some background to the development of the area from the 1750s onwards – but which did not touch the cultural and political aspects of life in the 1960s – 1980s in the Notting Hill area … so I’m weaving in and adding to the development I wrote about in those posts.   NB I was politically and culturally unaware … time does change one’s perspective.

 

I know in my previous posts I only mentioned the Notting Hill Carnival – but from the origins of The Mangrove’s troubles with the police the Notting Hill Carnival developed.   I did not participate … I didn’t understand what it was about … and I really don’t like large crowds, nor am I musical or creative in that sense.  But – the learning today is fascinating having lived in that area …

 

"Small Axe" (the name came) from Bob Marley & The Wailers' 1973 Songs of Freedom album!  The name comes from an African proverb ... 'if you are the big tree - we are the small axe' ... 

  

Small Axe (miniseries) – there are five films … four true stories, one imagined … which premiered at the 58^th New York Film Festival this year.  They are being shown on BBC1 and are available on Amazon Prime.

 

“The Mangrove Nine” – was the first shown last Sunday on BBC1 – I am now looking forward to four more Sunday evenings of engrossing films.

 

Letitia Wright as Shuri in
Black Panther poster

There are many well-known actors in these films … Letitia Wright – who was Shuri in the Black Panther series – plays British Black Panther leader Altheia Jones-LeCointe, who, along with eight other Black activists, was arrested and charged with inciting after a peaceful protest in 1970.  John Boyega of Star Wars fame appears in a later film.

 

John Boyega appears in one of the 
later films (c/o Gage Skidmore)

The latter part of the story line centres around the trial at the ‘Old Bailey’ (the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales) and the activists’ rightful non-conformity to the British legal system. 

 

Lady Justice statue on Old Bailey

Legacy: Ian Macdonald, QC wrote in Race Today*: “The Mangrove Nine trial was a watershed because we learnt through experience how to confront the power of the court, because the defendants refused to play the role of ‘victim’ and rely on the so-called ‘expertise’ of the lawyer.  Once you recognise the defendant as a self-assertive human being, everything in the court has to change.” 

 

I kept on finding out more as I explored articles for this post … including the fact that the area became gentrified during the late 1980s – 90s and onwards – which explains the changes I came across.

 

Interior of Old Bailey

The Mangrove was near recording studios that Iron Maiden, Bob Marley, The Clash, Queen, and many others came to record their music - known now as SARM studios (an acronym of Sound and Recording Mobiles).

 

I think I’d better wrap this up … but as you’ll have gathered … I highly recommend this series.

The Mangrove Nine *

The Mangrove Restaurant

Small Axe (mini series) ... 

Bustle - the media company's review of McQueen's first Small Axe film: The Mangrove Nine

Youtube 1992 recording of Small Axe song by Bob Marley and the Wailers ...  

My post on Steve McQueen's exhibit at Tate Modern early in 2020 ... 

My post (first of three) on my Notting Hill visits - the history and my memories ... 

BBC News article on 'Mangrove Nine' - echoes of black lives matter from 50 years ago ... with press footage, details of the coverage ... and photos ... this is excellent to read.

Steve McQueen's exhibition at the Tate - there's a downloadable brochure via the link.

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories