Small Axe - Mangrove

I am a huge fan of Steve McQueen. No, not that one. The British auteur who delivers intense, thought-provoking cinema at its finest. I fell in love with his debut, Hunger (2008), and had my jaw dropped by his recent heist thriller, Widows (2018).

It occurred to me recently that I had no idea what McQueen was up to.

It turns out he was up to a lot. He's made five (count 'em, FIVE) films as part of a collection called Small Axe. And those five films are dropping on Amazon Prime over the next few weeks.

I had little to go on: the trailer is a mood piece more than a story spoiler; and I have no real knowledge or understanding of British Civil Rights history (so the word "Mangrove" meant nothing to me at first glance). And, if I'm being honest, going in absolutely fresh made my viewing experience all the more intense and memorable.

What is It?

Small Axe (2020) is a collection of five films that explore the black civil rights movement in Britain in the sixties, seventies and early eighties. Each movie tells a different story. This one, Mangrove, tells the story of Frank Crichlow, his restaurant, The Mangrove, the cops that refused to leave him alone, and the resulting trial of a demonstration turned violent.

Searing Performances

The movie boasts a wonderful ensemble of actors who all get moments to shine, but the film is anchored by three lead performances: Shaun Parkes (Frank Crichlow), Letitia Wright (Altheia Jones), and Malachi Kirby (Darcus Howe). Each of these actors brings military-grade emotional ordnance, and delivers it with unmatched skill. 

Parkes' turn as Frank Crichlow is a study in never-say-die gumption. He is a man constantly harassed by the police, but he is also endowed with a resolve made of hardened steel. He is determined to keep his proud black space. Parkes hits every note perfectly.

Letitia Wright continues to prove that she is one of the finest young actors of her generation. Her Altheia Jones is a stone-cold bad-ass who gets more than one wicked monologue. She is an excellent revolutionary because she brings fire, but tempers it perfectly with bold comfort and wisdom. When a (white) lawyer suggests that Frank plead guilty, she goes off like a live-wire. 

Kirby's Darcus Howe gets some of the finest courtroom cross-examination scenes and monologues in the film. When he calls the policeman, "constable," or the judge "your honor," his tone drips with irony. When Howe decides to represent himself, the court can barely hide their disdain. But they underestimate his fierce intelligence and drive. And that results in some of the most electric moments in the court room.

McQueen has a knack for peopling his movies with top-notch talent. Small Axe - Mangrove is no exception.

Beautifully Composed

This movie is a feast for the eyes. It is a lush late-sixties period piece that is frequently flooded with colorful lighting. Cinematographer, Shabier Kirchner, composes wonderful tableaus that are balanced and artful without appearing artificial or fake. The neighborhood where The Mangrove is located teems with vibrant life, especially at night, when the steel drums bang and a haze of smoke hovers in the air. Kirchner and McQueen show us a world that is alive and necessary. One of the things I appreciated the most about this film, and McQueen's other films in general, is the way that McQueen allows his actors to act. He places a camera in front of them, and allows them to speak with little in the way of fancy cuts or edits. The framing is always engaging, but McQueen trusts his actors to deliver, and they do. And when you have performers as compelling and powerful as those assembled here, it is a joy to watch them do their thing. Even when they are raging against a system, or weeping at injustice.

Mica Levi's score ratchets up the tension expertly, like a ticking clock or a beating heart, and stands in contrast to the reggae soundtrack that underscores much of the film. When Levi's score sets the scene to boil, McQueen wisely pivots us back with the dulcet tones of a  period reggae track, easing the tension like a steam valve.

Steve McQueen doesn't just direct: he co-wrote the script (as he does in every Small Axe film). This time around he teams with Alistair Siddons. Their script is righteous, and tender, and raw. It captures the fury, and injustice of this story without ever becoming preachy or full-of-itself. The characters speak their truths, and when they are victorious, the viewer feels suffused with that victory.

Timely

This movie dropped on Amazon at the same time as Aaron Sorkin's The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020). Both are courtroom dramas about the ways oppressive systems attempt to disenfranchise their citizens. We need movies like these. Mangrove does something that Sorkin's doesn't, however. McQueen refuses to allow his film to devolve into violence porn against black bodies. The violence is suggested, and we often see the outcomes of police violence, but what is missing are gouts of blood and swing truncheons. McQueen instead shows us the seething rage and righteous fury of Frank Crichlow and Altheia Jones and Darcus Howe. We see their humanity and experience their hurt not in their splattered blood, but in their beating hearts and raw words.

The film presents a series of tiny victories (a demonstration, the refusal to acquiesce in the face of police harassment, the gaming of the jury selection process, and some crackerjack legal maneuverings) that underscore the main ideas that McQueen is trying to present. It is the titular reference to a Bob Marley and the Wailers song: "If you are the big tree... we are the small axe." With each small victory, a chunk comes rent out of the larger system. In isolation, the tiny axe only appears to take a little bit. But, over time, the tree will fall. As long as the small axe keeps swinging.

I am pretty ignorant of the civil rights movement in the UK, and I am thankful for this movie. It is opening me to a history and struggle that I, embarrassingly, had no knowledge of.

The US doesn't have a monopoly on white supremacy. We need films like this to help us reckon with an unjust system that spans the globe.

Should You Watch It?

Yes. If you, like me, have no familiarity with the UK's own history of civil rights, you owe it to yourself to watch this one. It is a blood-boilingly tense courtroom drama that delivers incredible performances from its leads and gorgeous visuals from its crew. It's the first "episode" in McQueen's Small Axe, but I an officially onboard for the next four.

Odds and Ends

- This is nominally a "mini-series," but it is comprised of five feature-length films. I have no idea how this film is going to be screwed come awards season, I just have the heavy feeling that it isn't going to get the recognition it deserves. In part because it defies categorization.

- The Mangrove restaurant remained open until Crichlow closed it in 1992.

- Over 200 police officers were dispatched to handle the protestors on August 9, 1970.

- The trial of the Mangrove Nine lasted over 55 days.