Small Axe (Season 1)

Small Axe (2020) is Steve McQueen's five-part anthology, and you can watch it online on iFILM. Each entry stands on its own as a separate film about London's West Indian community from the late 1960s into the early 1980s, yet together they map a whole generation finding its footing and its voice.

The cycle opens with Mangrove, where nine Black activists end up in the dock after a peaceful march to defend a Notting Hill restaurant turns into a clash with the police. That Old Bailey trial became the first time a British court said out loud that the city's officers carried racial bias. From there the stories spread out: lovers swaying through a blues party in Lovers Rock, a bright boy written off as a problem by his school, a young Black constable surrounded by his own racist colleagues. Letitia Wright, Shaun Parkes, Malachi Kirby and Jack Lowden lead the casts.

McQueen, who took home an Oscar for 12 Years a Slave, made the project for the BBC and Amazon and dedicated it to George Floyd. The title comes from a Caribbean proverb: a small axe can fell a big tree. It is quiet and furious at once, trading speeches for music, faces and grief you believe. Stream Small Axe (2020) online on iFILM.