Among the best reviewed films of 2020 were the five that make up the series called Small Axe. They were initially released to stream only on Amazon, but they finally arrived on disc in the fall of 2021. Directed by Steve McQueen (director of 12 Years a Slave, not the American actor), they are all set among the Caribbean-British community in the 1960s-1980s. Each film has a different group of characters and a different story, so each can stand separately and can be watched in any order. Broadly, they are about resistance to racism that we Americans might not be aware was so prevalent in the UK. My favorite of them was Lovers Rock, which takes place at a house party. In one really magical scene, people are enjoying the music so much that they all keep dancing and singing along, even after the DJ has faded the music away. I felt as immersed in the moment as the character on screen were. The other four films in the series, whose titles are Mangrove, Education, Alex Wheatle, and Red, White, and Blue, are also very good. The music in all of them is excellent.
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