NYFF 2020: Red, White and Blue
NYFFRed, White and Blue is the third and final Small Axe instalment premiering at the 58th New York Film Festival, with two more films coming to round out Steve McQueen’s anthology series. Red, White and Blue returns to Small Axe’s themes of resistance in London’s West Indian community, a people always ready to fight back because “if you are the big tree, we are a small axe”. John Boyega stars as Leroy Logan, a forensic scientist who, albeit naively, decides to join the Metropolitan Police in an effort to combat the rampant racism present in the force after his father was brutally beaten by a few officers.
So far, the acting in Small Axe has been brilliant and there is no change in Red, White and Blue. Steven Toussaint plays Leroy Logan’s father, Kenneth, as strong-willed and stubborn. It is this characteristic that first gets Kenneth into trouble with the police, parking his delivery truck on the roadside he quickly gets harassed by officers accusing him of blocking traffic. Kenneth, knowing he is right, spits back that he knows the law, before being cut off and beaten. His need to fight for justice and to prove himself right is present throughout the entirety of Red, White and Blue as he is seen working with lawyers to prove his innocence and take down the cops who assaulted him. In his police brutality case, Kenneth’s stubbornness makes him a martyr, his case isn’t just for him but for all Black West Indians that have endured harassment from the lawman.
Yet Steve McQueen and co-writer Courttia Newland show that Kenneth’s stubbornness can also be negative, the relationship between Kenneth and Leroy clearly strained. Not only do Toussaint’s glares reflect Kenneth’s anger at the police, but he also shoots these daggers at his own son, and they get much worse when Leroy joins police ranks. Toussaint and Boyega play off each other incredibly well, Kenneth shrugging off his son as Boyega’s Leroy does all he can to make his father proud. Red, White and Blue is the vessel for John Boyega’s stunning performance. One of his first performances following the conclusion of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, Boyega’s acting is a big old middle finger to the Disney conglomerate. Finn should have been a proper leading character with a way better storyline, Boyega knows it and Red, White and Blue proves all the naysayers to be fools. His role as Leroy is much more mature, the weight of the film rests on his shoulders and Boyega is able to handle his job perfectly, notably as Leroy becomes more disillusioned on the force.
As the film takes place in the 1980s, many would call the plot of Red, White and Blue to be timely, but the point of Steve McQueen’s Small Axe is that Black people are always fighting to better their community and change broken systems. The tales of Black West Indians of the Windrush generation are just one of the too many times where marginalized people have been forced to fight and resist. Red, White and Blue is an exploration that asks if it’s truly possible for one to change an entire system, Leroy thinks he can and as the film progresses, he finds himself gravely mistaken. The children of colour in his own neighbourhood call him “Judas” despite his best efforts to positively inspire them. Another time Leroy watches as a white police officer chastises another officer, a Pakistani man speaking Urdu to people reporting that their restaurant has been vandalized with the words “Pakis go home.” The officer tells the Pakistani man to speak English to better reflect the force, even though police argue they serve the community, they refuse to use the community’s language, a blatant act of Islamophobia, xenophobia, and racism. Leroy even receives hate from the other officers, who spray painted the N-word on his locker door.
Despite his best efforts, Boyega’s Leroy Logan struggles to achieve his goals of changing the Metropolitan Police from the inside, yet he continues to persevere. Red, White and Blue once again demonstrates Black resilience and Leroy shows it in a multifaceted way. When necessary, Boyega portrays Leroy as a gentle and caring man, like when he’s trying to get some local boys out of trouble. At other times he explodes, screaming right back at those who hate him. Red, White and Blue leaves the question of whether it’s possible for one man to change a structural institution open, providing examples that can argue both sides. Steve McQueen gives the audience the opportunity to question their views of policing and what it would actually take to change the system.