Manchester: A Year of Hate Crimes
CHANNEL 4, 10.35PM
The best – and most shocking – moments of this film, which focuses on anti-muslim hate crimes in Manchester after the 2017 Arena bombings, come when the victims speak for themselves. “It’s something that will always stick with me,” says one young girl about the abuse shouted at her. Talking about an attack on her mother, another, even younger, notes: “I don’t know why they did it,” before correcting herself. “Maybe cos we’re different from them.” We see local Imam Irfan Chishti try to counter the rising tension within the city, a tension that far-right activist Tommy Robinson is quick to capitalise on. There are times when the film’s desire to simply record events as they unfold threatens to undermine the message – Robinson, in particular, has what feels like a disproportionate amount of air time. However, the lack of comment pays off during the film’s most powerful scenes, as the police interview a member of a group of apparently unconcerned children accused of stamping on another boy’s head while racially abusing him. It’s a chilling moment and one that contrasts the outpouring of compassion and the spate of racial hatred following the bombing.