LFF 2020: Mangrove
lff 2020
Director Steve McQueen returns behind the camera two years after his extremely underrated feature film adaptation of the BBC drama Widows, with the anthology film series Small Axe. A five-part television project that showcases West-Indian voices throughout the UK while following the trials and tribulations of being the other in a white society.
Born to West-Indian parents in South London, this material is incredibly close to home for McQueen, and that very passion to honour this community as well as showcase the racial prejudice and terror that is continuously brought upon their door is handled with the utmost respect and ferociousness.
Mangrove is a film that is pouring with love and a commanding demand to be seen and heard, not unlike the voices of its characters within the film itself. McQueen's film is a protest feature at heart but also a love letter to those who overcame the pitfalls of the justice system and racial prejudice. It is not without scenes of terror and trauma, of which are showcased in an authentic, and no holds barred degree of the uncomfortable. It is a trademark of McQueen to show abuse both internally and externally in a haunting tone of authenticity and brutality.
Somehow Mangrove feels even more poignant with its politically charged social relevancy - a power that is radiating to behold. The similarities and themes brought forward from this feature are hauntingly accurate for our time, even with this material dating back sixty years, but that’s what makes McQueen's latest few features all the more compelling.
In his last three features, McQueen has primarily focused on black stories and black voices, sub-textually or contextually depending on the specific piece. Mangrove more or less is a combination of the harrowing history continuing from 12 Years a Slave and the protest fightback found in Widows. The combination and balance are handled beautifully, with the two themes blending together in paralleled unison. In the same breath, it makes for a grim reading but underlined with a glimmer of hope and prosperity.
However, the themes are not just the sole element that is terrific. The filmmaking talent and ability from McQueen in Mangrove are staggering. In any genre the director has put himself into, he provides a distinctively unique mannerism behind the camera. Granted, McQueen's slow pans and long takes are here in their enlightening gravitas. However, the director accustoms his aesthetic and mood to substantiate and evoke mood/genre with what feels like simplistic ease. Depending on the mood, McQueen shifts both pace and technicality, as well as craft, to accommodate the emotive depiction the scene in question demands.
More impressive is the ensemble cast on offer. Granted, Letitia Wright will take much of the plaudits in a fierce as well as wonderfully charismatic performance, but it is the ensemble itself that is quite frankly phenomenal. McQueen and casting director Gary Davy have chosen a few familiar faces here such as Line of Duty's Rochenda Sandall, Dunkirk's Jack Lowden and well-renowned actor Shaun Parkes. Nevertheless, all are extremely evocative performances that engulf the screen. Either in their respective charismatic pull or, fiery temperament and anguish that drives this captivating screenplay forward.
Made all the more compelling is that Mangrove is just the tip of the iceberg. Small Axe has four more stories to tell and stands tall a reminder and staunch warning that because places and time move on, prejudice is here in all forms, and these stories from McQueen will be heard.
