As a new year begins, so do a new list of entertaining possibilities. That said, the previous year’s best of list still looms as winter sets in. What a perfect time to catch up! A good miniseries makes the best way to pass this time, long connected episodes designed to engross us. Some on other streaming services are based on novels of equal exceptional quality. But over on Amazon Prime is an anthology entirely of its own creation.
Director Steve McQueen introduced a collection of films under the title of “Small Axe.” Taken from the Bob Marley song, each film is an individual tale about the West Indian communities in England in the late 60s through the 80s. “Mangrove”, the longest of them, is being touted as a feature. With the longer run time and production values, it feels like a scale of his later films “12 Years a Slave” and “Widows.” The story of the Mangrove restaurant in Notting Hill area of London and harassment they received from the Metropolitan Police is compelling all the way to the trial. The courtroom drama and the scenes in the restaurant are not without their moments of levity as well. Letitia Wright, some might remember from “Black Panther,” gives an astonishingly good performance that is sure to net a supporting Oscar just from the courtroom scenes alone.
“Lovers Rock” is the slighter of the three so far. It is reminiscent of McQueen’s short art installation films for museums. Clocking in at just over an hour, we get the story of a man and women who meet and fall in love at a house party. The atmospheric camerawork make us a participant in the rowdiness.
The third, “Red White and Blue,” is truly the special one though. What could have been a simple biopic of policeman Leroy Logan’s reformation of the London police turns into a powerful film about family. John Boyega’s portrayal is leaps beyond his work on Star Wars. The struggle for him to take a job with the police juxtaposed with his father’s hatred of them is searing. And the scenes between them make this McQueen best work since his first features with Michael Fassbinder. The climatic pursuit of a suspect is so meticulously tracked, this tension unrelenting.
The fourth, “Alex Wheatle,” is the lesser of the group. Not in quality, it is more a matter quantity. McQueen takes on the task of telling the true story of Alex from his childhood up until his imprisonment and later writing career. All of this done in the span of an hour, a little too slight for the ambition. Wheatle’s foray into music and street dealing give some depth, but it doesn’t go far enough. His contributions to the Brixton Riots make up a small part of this, nor is the recreation live up to the songs written about it. The palpable frenzy we have seen in “Mangrove” is lacking here. True, the main performance is the draw here from Sheyi Cole.
Luckily, the final film “Education” brings it all back. The naturalism of “Red, White and Blue” and “Lovers Rock” give life to a story of a brilliant but dyslexic child singled out and sent to a “special school.” Unchecked, his treatment as well as of others are only discovered by a group of brave women educators. Although this is fictional, the practice as well as the pamphlet exposing this is not. The subtlety of emotion gradually raises to a crescendo as the film goes on.
Questions are raised: is this a miniseries or just a loosely connected group of films? My mentions of possible Oscar nominations are made moot depending on the answer. Yes, the first three films have been sent to theaters and film festivals. Ingmar Bergman and R. W. Fassbinder, as well as other directors, have played with their films to make them as televised miniseries as well. In that tradition McQueen has followed in their footsteps, with dazzling results.
