Movie Review: Mangrove
SPOILER ALERT: This film is the first in a series of films directed by Oscar-winner Steve McQueen and released on Amazon Prime. It is incredibly relevant, and is definitely worth the watch. I’ve included a note about the film’s content at the end of this review, but I will attempt to steer clear of overt spoilers. Still, I highly recommend watching the film first before reading any reviews.
I’m a white man in America. The system has worked well for me. I have friends who are police officers. I grew up in a midwestern, conservative context. Even if never said in these exact words, I’ve been taught to keep my head down, follow the rules, and expect that things will work out just fine.
But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized just how naïve it is to think that everyone else has been so lucky. There are many for whom systems do not work. Police officers do not appear friendly to them. They cannot simply follow the rules. They have to do more. This is the insidious nature of injustice in our society. It is real, and we cannot deny it.
Steve McQueen’s newest film, Mangrove, shows that these issues are not solely confined to America’s shores. They take place everywhere, including London in the early 1970s. This is the true story of the Mangrove 9, participants in a protest against police brutality in Notting Hill in 1970. The trial took place in 1971 and lasted 55 days.
I love how McQueen chooses to begin the film. Reggae music drifts in as the film’s first scene opens on a group of men sitting in a smoke-filled room playing with dice and enjoying themselves. These men are simply living in community, trying to exist. One man - Frank Crichlow (Shaun Parkes) - walks outside and the camera zooms out while a title card orients us in the story. This is Notting Hill, London, 1968 - a setting in which a black man like Crichlow is completely isolated.
As Frank walks along the street, the film’s soundtrack plays the cool stylings of Bob Marley’s “Try Me”. The music in this film is another device used to ground us in the story. Reggae, and specifically the sound of steel drums, brings with it a specific cultural context. But for this story, it even offers echoes of the history of British colonialism in places like Jamaica. Frank is a man looking to build something new, not by taking away from others, but by living in community with others.
That is what defines The Mangrove - Frank’s place of business. This restaurant offers only spicy food. Frank is adamant about the fact that this is not a place for seedy dealings. He doesn’t want any trouble. He just wants a place for black people in the neighborhood to be able to be themselves.
Onto a screen comes the face of Darcus Howe (Malachi Kirby). He speaks of the injustices laid upon the black community by the police force. When the system actively works against someone, what choices do they have? Kirby follows up his impressive TV performance with a visit to The Mangrove where the steel drums bring revelry and happiness. Outside a sinister force waits.
His name is Frank Pulley (Sam Spruell), Police Constable Frank Pulley at that. He talks to his partner about his ideas about the rightful place of the black man in English society. The prejudice and hate in his heart seethe out of him. Before we simply call him a bad apple, consider that his partner quietly listens to the hateful rhetoric that Pulley spews.
We can quickly see where this is going. PC Pulley confronts Frank at The Mangrove making vague references to a previous business Frank owned that was a gathering place for crime. In later scenes we see that Frank has made a concerted effort to make The Mangrove a clean business. He’s doing the right things. More than that, he’s creating a new space in an old world.
Altheia Jones-LeCointe (Letitia Wright) joins the story as the leader of the local Black Panther movement. She lauds The Mangrove as “a focal point for black people to come and sit, talk, and exchange views.” She calls it a “rare and precious gift.”
For those of us who have so freely inhabited spaces in this way, we take such freedoms for granted. So much so, in fact, that we often bristle against those who would claim that those freedoms are not being realized in our modern society. We think that because those freedoms come easily for us - especially those of us who are white - they come easily for everyone. No, unfortunately they don’t. Many are still fighting for the freedoms the privileged among us take for granted. Mangrove is a powerful reminder of this fact.
PC Pulley returns, but this time it becomes violent. He breaks up the community in The Mangrove, and it will not be the last such occurrence in the film. Frank calls the authorities to report the infringements of his rights and he is given the run-around. He is running a restaurant, nothing more. But to the powers that be, a gathering of black men and women is unacceptable. “It is a restaurant, not a battleground,” Frank says. We see in Altheia’s eyes that she may not completely agree. She does not want violence, but The Mangrove is the perfect setting for a battleground of a different kind. Of ideas yes, but more so of the importance held by bodies inhabiting space freely. Altheia asks if she can hold Black Panther meetings upstairs above The Mangrove. Frank agrees, but only if Altheia will play the steel drum in their band.
The next scene shows the true power of this film. The community dances as Frank cooks and Altheia plays. It is unadulterated joy. Pure bliss. These are people who are simply being themselves among people who accept and appreciate that fact.
This joy is broken up by a scene of PC Pulley and his partners back at police headquarters. He and fellow PC’s Dixon (Joseph Quinn) and Royce (Thomas Coombes) are playing cards when Royce lays down an Ace of Spades. In their sick game, this means he has to go out and find a black man to arrest for no apparent reason. To them, it’s just sport.
The film shows injustices large and small. They show up in scene after scene. But the power of McQueen’s craft here is that he never lets us stay on the surface of merely acknowledging the injustice. We must go deeper to confront what this says about the people involved. McQueen does this through reaction shots - one particularly unnerving one is when violence breaks out in a prison cell after a black man is wrongfully arrested. We hear the screams from the man’s mother, but the camera shifts so that we see PC Pulley watching the scene. His face is blank. It’s as if he’s watching a TV program. He does not see black people as equals.
This is what McQueen used to such great effect in his Oscar-winning film 12 Years a Slave. In that film, the beauty of the landscapes was juxtaposed with the grotesque and horrifying actions that took place under those weeping willows. McQueen is able to find the horror in the small moments that are stolen. In Mangrove, it can be as simple as a colander rolling on the floor. McQueen holds this shot for what seems like ages. Injustice breaks up the lives it touches and leaves them in shambles.
It is abundantly clear that PC Pulley sees Frank’s mere presence - the fact that Frank’s body is inhabiting space in that specific community - as an affront. This is clearly wrong and unjust on its face, yet that same thinking seeps into our communities today.
And this is all the film’s setup, but the fact that it takes the time to build these ideas increases the power of the film’s main focus - the trial of the Mangrove 9. Frank, Altheia, Darcus, Barbara Beese (Rochenda Sandall), Rhodan Gordan (Nathaniel Martello-White), Godfrey Millett (Jumayn Hunter), Rothwell Kentish (Richie Campbell) are all accused of inciting a riot and affray. (Rupert Boyce and Anthony Innis, the other two defendants in the case are not portrayed in the film.)
The performance from Shaun Parkes as Frank Crichlow is the backbone of the film. He gives a powerful turn that serves as the center for the storyline and the converging viewpoints. He creates the space for everyone at The Mangrove, and it is Parkes’ powerful performance that creates space for the audience here. There are many wonderful supporting turns, but this is Parkes’ film.
There have been multiple films recently that seek to comment on our current political climate by looking back to historical events that have clear parallels. Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 comes to mind. However, what Mangrove understands better than many of its peers is that it serves its story best by focusing on what these characters were thinking and experiencing rather than seeing them first and foremost as mirrors for us today.
We must look into the eyes of these characters, consider the implications of the real-life people whom they portray, and seek to better understand their struggle. For, as sad a commentary as it may be, their struggle remains our struggle.
We cannot sit idly by and let systems hurt others around us. We must stand up to injustice wherever we find it, even if that means taking another look at the systems that have always worked for us but haven’t always worked for everyone else around us.
NOTE ON CONTENT: This film contains many upsetting instances of violence, brutality, and injustice. There is also language in the film, but the violence is the most frequent adult content. I think this film is one that can spark discussions across generations, but some of the darker elements may not be appropriate for younger viewers. There is no sexual content in the film.