Curious why every black person in Brixton London have a Jamaican accent. Weird

This is a small English film from 1977 tells the story of a innocent African boy arriving straight from Africa to set up a new life for himself in the streets of London. Upon arrival things quickly go wrong from the intimate cavity search when he arrives in Heathrow to getting hustled of most of his money by a small child when he walks the streets. This is the theme of the comedy, the corruption of the innocent and how they survive. Although easily criticised for its apparent inability to tackle the political relationships between people in English Black sub-culture, the non-political approach ends up working in it's favour.

A problem with so called 'black films' is that they often act demeaningly towards it's subject, giving one-dimensional characters and clichéd plot devices somewhere to hide. This film however by taking a much more subtle approach towards the more obvious themes of other 'black films', the poverty and the contrasting cultures etc, allows itself to tell a lot more of a human story and therefore speak more to a multi-cultural audience.

This film although 30 years old almost now is still fast moving for it's time. It's one worth seeking out if you want to see a film that shows the black community beyond the gangstas and crack addicts so often demonstrated in todays cinema. The film is not just about the black community, it is about trying to fit in and adapt in to a foreign culture and finding humour in the situation and also about the corruption of an innocent.

Guyanese-born writer Jamal Ali probably had a better appreciation than most of the difference a "country boy" from Guyana might face if he was sent off to London to find a distant relative without any support. Winding up in Brixton, a sneaky kid nicks his wallet and then unable to track down a scribbled address, the lad (Trevor Thomas) is befriended by wannabe hustler Dave King (Norman Beaton) - an encounter with much in common to Joe Buck & Ratso's relationship in Midnight Cowboy. The cast do a great job, although a dialect coach might have helped some of them with the delivery of their Jamaican patois. Living near Brixton in the 70s, this occasionally stumbling delivery is the only thing that really jars. Dave King might idolise the hustlers from American films, but he's a pretty hopeless imitation. This film was a good effort at getting an enjoyable film made with a largely black cast. It needed more work in the cutting room to up the pace as it does get a bit too involved and a bit like an episode of Eastenders at times, but there's great music and appearances by the Real Thing and the Cimarons along the way. One thing I'm shocked I missed watching it in the 70s was the great Vivian Stanshall as warden of the mission, I'd love to know how that came about. It's brilliant that its now on DVD and well deserves a place in British film history.