I went
along to the Watershed this afternoon to see ‘Handsworth Songs’ - part of their
‘Cinema Rediscovered’ series. Described, according to the Watershed’s blurb, as
a “groundbreaking experimental film essay on race and disorder in Britain”, by
John Akomfrah from the Black Audio Film Collective in Birmingham and London
during the riots of 1985. I grew up in Handsworth and effectively left home
when I started at Oxford School of Architecture in 1967… and so I didn’t
experience the inner-city riots of 1985 (which included Handsworth) first hand,
but I was certainly aware of the deep-rooted colour prejudice views that many
long-standing residents (including many members of my own family) held. Such
views appalled me then and still appal me today.
Today, I
was part of quite a large, ‘learned’ audience (film students and academics?) at
the Watershed and am pretty confident that I was the only person there who’d
grown up in Handsworth(!). Needless to say, no one asked for my ‘take’ on the
subject!
I don’t
intend to provide any ground-breaking insight into the documentary(!), but it
was fascinating to view the inner-city riots 40 years on from the event. The
film is a rich and layered ‘essay’ which explores the complex factors of race,
class and identity in the context of Britain’s colonial history, alongside
media bias.
Among the
things that particularly struck me were: a) the comments of one of the members
of the Sikh community – who essentially said “don’t think that this is
something that has just bubbled up recently (ie. 1985) – it’s been building over a number
of years” (I would agree), and b) there was an overriding sense that the ‘heavy-handed’
policing played a huge part in what led to the riots (over several years and,
in particular, following what was the recent appointment of a new Chief Constable
of West Midlands Police). Thank goodness no one’s suggesting an Inquiry
today(!)… there’s so much water under the bridge (unlike, the
recently-announced Orgreave Inquiry after the events in 1984 - when 6000 police
officers, confronted a protest of striking miners who had responded to a call
by the NUM for a mass picket of the pit. Absolutely ridiculous in my view,
given the time that has elapsed).
A fascinating, illuminating and
somewhat depressing documentary – which only underlines how little has changed.
Note: just in case you were thinking
that the woman in the photograph was holding a knife - no, she wasn’t – it’s a
factory lever handle!