An historical film directed by Steve McQueen, about the Mangrove restaurant in west London and the 1970s trial of The Mangrove Nine : I recently watched MANGROVE which is the first part of Mcqueen’s ambitious Small Axe, a collection of five movies that tell individual stories about the lives of West Indian immigrants in London around the 60s & 70s : at the heart of Mangrove is it’s powerful and riveting storytelling that revolves around a restaurant in the Notting Hill area and as the movie touches upon became known as the place for the community to eat, drink and discuss local issues, the Mangrove was run by the main character in the movie Frank Crichlow played by the amazing Shaun Parkes : in all honesty I didn’t know a great deal about this particular story and was facinated from the get-go, the march scenes and clashes with the local police were harrowing, the constant police harassment was diabolical and in the second half of the movie which was mostly about the trial I found the emotion delivered by it’s cast phenomenal, those closing arguements were tough to watch and when the jury were delivering their verdict, through gritted teeth a smile lit my face : Mangrove also manages to capture the film’s time & place, it’s authenticity is top draw with the streets of Notting Hill, the surrounding area and the costume design utterly fantastic : all credit to the likes of Steve McQueen for bringing these important stories to our screen, giving them voice and reminding us all of the many atrocities that took place ★★★★½

The Mangrove Nine are Frank Crichlow, Darcus Howe, Altheia Jones-LeCointe, Barbara Beese, Rupert Boyce, Rhodan Gordon, Anthony Innis, Rothwell Kentish & Godfrey Millett