Having "enjoyed" —it's definitely not the most appropriate word for these shorts— End Game and Period. End of Sentence, I decided to check out Black Sheep. I had very low expectations about this one though as I haven't read great things about it and I was not disappointed.
The film tells the story of Cornelius Walker, a young English man of Nigerian descent who, as a kid, moved from London to a more rural area in England after the high-profile killing of Damilola Taylor, as his mother thought it'd be safer for him to live there.
As it turned out, Cornelius and his family moved in a town run by racists, and, shortly after the move, Cornelius became the target of a group of young toughs and was eventually brutally beaten up.
Instead of fighting back, Cornelius took a drastic step to survive and tried his best to fit in —he started wearing the same sportswear brands the gang members were wearing, he straightened his hair, bleached his skin, and wore blue contacts. And, worst of all, he became friends with those toughs, he became one of them, he always sided with them, even when the other side shared his skin colour.
Black Sheep does a good job at showing what racism does to people, what it's like to be a black person in a white world, and the struggle of a kid to be accepted, fit in and live up to his father's expectations. This is the reason everyone should watch this short documentary despite it not being great.
What does prevent it from being great? How the past of Cornelius is told. It is all reacted, of course, since Cornelius is now a grown man, but it's so poorly done, it drags down the whole short. The editing is choppy, the camera is shaky, the acting is horrendous, the dialogue is dreadful, and they make it really hard to believe the story.
In addition, the killing of Damilola Taylor is just thrown in there, used to give us the reason why Cornelius and his family moved out of London. I get that this is not about Taylor but, as someone who knows absolutely nothing about his killing, I would have liked it to be deepened.
As it turned out, Cornelius and his family moved in a town run by racists, and, shortly after the move, Cornelius became the target of a group of young toughs and was eventually brutally beaten up.
Instead of fighting back, Cornelius took a drastic step to survive and tried his best to fit in —he started wearing the same sportswear brands the gang members were wearing, he straightened his hair, bleached his skin, and wore blue contacts. And, worst of all, he became friends with those toughs, he became one of them, he always sided with them, even when the other side shared his skin colour.
Black Sheep does a good job at showing what racism does to people, what it's like to be a black person in a white world, and the struggle of a kid to be accepted, fit in and live up to his father's expectations. This is the reason everyone should watch this short documentary despite it not being great.
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| The Guardian |
In addition, the killing of Damilola Taylor is just thrown in there, used to give us the reason why Cornelius and his family moved out of London. I get that this is not about Taylor but, as someone who knows absolutely nothing about his killing, I would have liked it to be deepened.
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