Education

For me the strongest individual Small Axe movie, and a good finisher for the series. Highlights one more battleground in which the community had to band together and stand up for their rights in order to overcome systemic discrimination, one step at a time.

Far and away the best of the series, focusing intently (and heartbreakingly) on institutional racism within the education system. More clear eyed and pragmatic than the other entries, but not lacking several emotional gut punches – like some of the other chapters, this might have benefit from an expansion to feature length – I would have loved to see Whyte, Simon and Ackie pursue their concerns right up to Thatcher! Beautifully performed by all and sharp and concentrated like a good short story.

Viewed January 29, 2021.

Maybe the weak spot in Small Axe, but still so rewarding in the way it feels socially and culturally deep and somewhat personal.

The Acting is amazing, the child actors all knock it out of the park. Steve McQueen's directing is perfect. He knows how to hold shots and what body parts to zoom in on to get the most amount of emotion from a scene. The only real issue is when the script takes its focus off of Kingsly to look at the system as a whole. The rest of the anthology was able to use it's character to look at the system, but for someone who is going to school, Kingsly feels oddly divorced from anything going on in it.

So that's why my class mates used to make animal sounds... Bad jokes aside, this was a solid social problem film.