Pressure (15)

Britain’s first Black feature, newly restored by the BFI National Archive, is a ground breaking depiction of second generation experience in 1970s London.

The first in his family to be born in the UK, Tony, the son of Trinidadian parents, has left school only to come smack up against the prejudice of British institutions. Through his brother Colin, he is drawn gradually and reluctantly into Black power politics. With his semi-documentary style and stark location shooting, Ové, who died last September, nails the bleakness of
an economically depressed West London perfectly. And the issues the film raises around assimilation remain potent and relevant today.