Film Reviews & Movie Analysis

The Small Axe anthology so far, Mangrove and Lovers Rock, Red, White and Blue.

Written by Steve McQueen and Alastair Siddons
Directed by Steve McQueen

Broadcast: BBC One, 6th December 2020
Synopsis: Based on the true story of novelist Alex Wheatle who went to prison following the 1981 Brixton riots.
Cast: Sheyi Cole, Robbie Gee, Johann Myers, Jonathan Jules

From a kid who grew up in care to a man discovering his roots and voice, the Alex Wheatle who becomes the prolific author he is today was born on the streets of Brixton.

Sheyi Cole has to be commended for his depiction of Alex Wheatle. He brought that sense of pain, misunderstanding, naivety, defeat and fight out of the screen and right into your tear ducts.

There was so much to unpack with Alex, from his upbringing and the journey that was referenced in the end titles.

Yet despite the amount of heart I’ve expressed the story has, the reference to a life changing voyage and the tension filled South London streets that led to the Brixton riots – the movie itself robbed us of truly experiencing any of it.

Even Alex’s viewpoint of prison life was very narrow, and whereas you could overlook the other movies not diving into the past or future of its main and subsidiary characters – that level of dimension was needed in a movie that focused so keenly on a single character.

Alex Wheatle left me with a yearning to know more with questions that will have to be found in the pages of the real Alex Wheatle’s eventual biography.

Trailer Below…

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Last up in the Small Axe Anthology: Education premiering on BBC One, Sunday 13th December 2020