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Film Details
Year
2020
Duration
66 minutes
Genres
Drama, Period and Historical
Language
English
Certificate
Synopsis
After growing up in a predominantly white care home in the midlands, young Black man Alex Wheatle discovers friendship, community, and sound systems for the first time when he arrives in London. However, his life changes once more when he is imprisoned during the Brixton uprising of 1981, where Black youth clashed with officers from the Metropolitan police in protest of systemic racism. During his time in prison, he educates himself through reading which leads him on a path to understand his identity, while also expanding his craft as a writer. With the film’s blend of reconstructed historic events and archive photographs of the Brixton uprising, it offers a different take on the traditional biopic to explore themes of injustice, protest and identity.
Content warning: Racism, discriminatory language, police violence, prison violence
Watch Small Axe on Into Film+ and discover Race Relations Board, a short public information film from 1969 that explained the new laws against racial discrimination in the United Kingdom.
Director/s
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3 RESOURCES
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