Here are reviews of the crown jewel of Steve McQueen’s Small Axe film anthology, the film Mangrove, which finally brings to film a historic trial in British Black History. There are also new drops on Netflix - Concrete Cowboy, a slice of contemporary Philadelphia urban lore, and Madame Claude, a woman who ruled Paris for the wrong reasons in the 1960’s.
Mangrove: Small Axe (Amazon Original) - Director Steve McQueen vividly brings to life a crucial turning point in Black History in Great Britain, and brings home the true legacy and nature of what Notting Hill was all about - beyond the rom-com film, it was where the West Indian community were settled and called home in the 1960’s before gentrification happened, and where prejudice and discrimination ruled. At the center of this film is a restaurant named Mangrove, owned by a black man and frequented by the local community, and condemned by the local police as a meeting place of terrorists, criminals, and violent thugs. In fact, Bob Marley would frequent the eatery when in London, and even the local MP, would drop by.
Set in 1968 (more than coincidentally the same time frame as The Trial of the Chicago 7), we are asked to bear witness to the events that led to the community staging a protest in front of the police station, and how the Mangrove 9 were brought to trial. The potential miscarriage of justice, the way the police was systematically persecuting the community, the protection and defending of basic rights; these are all examined with an emotional and emphatic tonality that helps bring home just how important a juncture the trial was in terms of the future of Black Lives in England. What I loved about McQueen’s treatment is how he often goes beyond the political aspect and presents the 9 as human beings who were swept into history-making circumstances. This film is obviously a labor of love, and we can be grateful that McQueen has brought this episode to cinematic life.
Concrete Cowboy (Netflix USA) - Produced by Lee Daniels, who directed The Butler, and both produced and directed the TV series Empire, one knows what to expect with a Lee Daniels project - a realistic slice of African-American life, highlighting a person or persons who can serve as inspirations for the community. Concrete Cowboy is based on a book called Ghetto Cowboy, as it chronicles the lives of Philadelphia’s Fletcher Street cowboys, a North Philly community that in the middle of an urban landscape; raise, ride and persist in a cowboy lifestyle, with horses as the main focus of what they do for disaffected urban youth.
This film is framed by the story of Cole (Caleb McLaughlin of Stranger Things, now all grown up), who lives with his mother in Detroit and is driven to Philly to live with his father (Idris Elba), when she gives up on raising him and keeping him out of trouble. What follows is a slow burn tale that does challenge the viewer for his or her patience, but does reward those who stick it through. Especially for those in the audience who love horses, this will be an enjoyable eye-opener about family, the challenges of growing up in the urban jungle, and how proximity to animals; in this case, horses, can help bring stability and values to a young adolescent’s life.
Madame Claude (Netflix France) - For those unfamiliar with the Madame Claude biography, Madame Claude/Fernande was the notorious Madam/Mama-San who ruled Paris and it’s demi-monde in the 1960’s. With over 200 prostitutes in her stable, Madame Claude was reputed to have such luminaries as Marlon Brando, John F. Kennedy and the Shah of Iran among her clients. In her time, she was courted by the Parisian crime syndicates, the intelligence services, the politicians, and the law enforcement agencies - all in the hope of having her collaborate with them in her honeypot services and gaining leverage on targeted individuals.
So it’s a potentially interesting figure, with sex, corruption, and kinky behavior all part of the scenario. It’s a shame then that this narrative has as much excitement as watching grass grow. They try to portray Madame Claude (Karole Rocher) as business like, unemotional and driven - but they’ve also made her uninteresting, banal and boring. Even the dynamic of her relationship with upper class recruit Sidonie (Garance Marillier) is wasted, as we’ve never really invested in our main character. This is one of those biopics that just fails to create sparks, when it would have been so easy to achieve that.