This is a small English film from 1977 tells the story of a innocent African boy arriving straight from Africa to set up a new life for himself in the streets of London. Upon arrival things quickly go wrong from the intimate cavity search when he arrives in Heathrow to getting hustled of most of his money by a small child when he walks the streets. This is the theme of the comedy, the corruption of the innocent and how they survive. Although easily criticised for its apparent inability to tackle the political relationships between people in English Black sub-culture, the non-political approach ends up working in it's favour.
A problem with so called 'black films' is that they often act demeaningly towards it's subject, giving one-dimensional characters and clichéd plot devices somewhere to hide. This film however by taking a much more subtle approach towards the more obvious themes of other 'black films', the poverty and the contrasting cultures etc, allows itself to tell a lot more of a human story and therefore speak more to a multi-cultural audience.
This film although 30 years old almost now is still fast moving for it's time. It's one worth seeking out if you want to see a film that shows the black community beyond the gangstas and crack addicts so often demonstrated in todays cinema. The film is not just about the black community, it is about trying to fit in and adapt in to a foreign culture and finding humour in the situation and also about the corruption of an innocent.
A problem with so called 'black films' is that they often act demeaningly towards it's subject, giving one-dimensional characters and clichéd plot devices somewhere to hide. This film however by taking a much more subtle approach towards the more obvious themes of other 'black films', the poverty and the contrasting cultures etc, allows itself to tell a lot more of a human story and therefore speak more to a multi-cultural audience.
This film although 30 years old almost now is still fast moving for it's time. It's one worth seeking out if you want to see a film that shows the black community beyond the gangstas and crack addicts so often demonstrated in todays cinema. The film is not just about the black community, it is about trying to fit in and adapt in to a foreign culture and finding humour in the situation and also about the corruption of an innocent.