Guerrilla shines light on ’70s London protest movement
Decades of Hollywood movies to the contrary, the United States did not have a monopoly on protest movements in the ’60s and ’70s. Social revolutions occur all over the world, sometimes leading to civil unrest, and they happen in the United Kingdom, Germany and even in Canada.
This point is driven home in Guerrilla, a six-part miniseries from writer/director/producer John Ridley (12 Years a Slave).
Set in London in 1971, the U.K.-U.S. effort stars Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) and British actor Babou Ceesay (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) as Jas and Marcus, two idealistic young lovers fighting against deeprooted racism and prejudice.
Tired of being held back and bullied simply because of the colour of their skin, they organize a resistance. With the help of a top activist (played by Idris Elba), they set out to liberate a political prisoner. That’s when things get ugly.
Unbeknownst to Jas and Marcus, a special branch of Scotland Yard — the “Black Power Desk” — has been created with the sole purpose of thwarting the black rights movement.
That black lives were systematically targeted by law enforcement officials way back in the early ’70s in England came as a shock to Ridley. The American Crime showrunner, who won an Oscar for his 12 Years a Slave screenplay, wrote five of the six Guerilla episodes.
Not that he was a stranger to protest movements.
“This is something I grew up with,” said the 51-year-old Wisconsin native, who remembers hearing and reading about the Black Liberation Army, the Black Panther Party, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. They all fascinated him because “they have a real emotional velocity to them.” As a screenwriter, and perhaps, he said, “a more mature person,” he looks for ways to humanize the people behind the movements.
Jas and Marcus are the human face of Guerrilla, a young couple in love and willing to risk everything to effect social change.
Ridley first learned of the Black Power Desk while in London four years ago doing post-production on a film about musician Jimi Hendrix.
“It was a real education for me personally,” he said.
Ridley sought out witnesses among police and protesters to get caught up on the history behind this story. One of the things he discovered was that there was a “cross-pollination” of revolutionary ideas going on from America to the United Kingdom, from the U.K. to Germany and Japan and beyond.
That included Canada where, throughout the ’60s, the separatist movement escalated under the radical Front de liberation du Quebec. The October Crisis of 1970 saw the murder of Quebec cabinet minister Pierre Laporte. Then prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act, suspending civil liberties. Police arrested and detained more than 450 individuals. FLQ leaders were tried and convicted. Five were dispatched to Cuba.