New Arrival Small Axe: Five Films by Steve McQueen

With the five films that make up hisSmall Axeanthology (Mangrove; Lovers Rock; Red, White and Blue; Alex Wheatle;andEducation), director Steve McQueen offers a richly evocative panorama of West Indian life in London from the late 1960s through the early 80sa time defined for the community by the terror of police violence, the empowering awakening of political consciousness, and the ecstatic escape of a vibrant reggae scene. Ranging in tone from tenderly impressionistic to devastatingly clear-eyed, these powerfully performed portraits of Black resistance, joy, creativity, and collective actionall sumptuously shot by Shabier Kirchnerform a revolutionary counterhistory of mid-twentieth-century Britain at a transformational moment.