Sharp exploration of race, radicalism
“When you’re black and British, there’s a constant struggle to understand who you really are,” a character says in Showtime’s new six-part limited series “Guerrilla,” created by John Ridley (“American Crime,” “12 Years a Slave”) and premiering Sunday, April 16.
The statement is made in 1971, and while the setting is significant because of the specific fury of radicalism at that point in world history, it’s clear that the identity struggle has continued well into the current century.
Ridley has a special ability to
nuances of attitudes about race and tolerance through careful character development. In “American Crime’s” three brilliant seasons on ABC, we are intrigued first by the characters themselves, who they are, what they are about and how they relate to each other, and then later by the social and political views they espouse or represent.
“Guerrilla,” by contrast, hits us fast and hard with message, or, more to the point, messages, before we even know who’s who.
Marcus (Babou Ceesay) and his girlfriend, Jas (Freida Pinto), are lowlevel activists in London. Nonviolent, they content themselves by distributing pamphlets and demonstrating. Marcus has a university degree, but when he applies for a job as a teacher, he’s told he’s better suited to be a lorry driver.
Marcus and Jas get involved in an effort to free a wrongly imprisoned activist (Nathaniel Martello-White) but are radicalized when another activist, who is their friend, is beaten to death by the police.
At various points, Jas and Marcus have options to pull back from more confrontational activism, but are so pressured by all sides, they end up going beyond several points of no return.
Other, more radical blacks deride Marcus for his reluctance to react when the cops target minorities for arrest and beatings without cause. Kent (Idris Elba), Jas’ former boyfriend who has anglicized his African name, tries to pressure her to take a more measured approach to discrimination. As the daughter of a radical who is in prison in India, she is driven to a more activist role against the white majority, but also emotionally torn between her lingering feelings for Kent and her devotion to Marcus. Violence is inevitable, and it changes both of their lives forever.
While the premiere episode is defined by absolutist polemic, we soon see shades of differ- ence in character and attitude among both blacks and whites. Even the villain of the piece, a police commander named Pence (Rory Kinnear), leads a conflicted, troubled life.
The series is graced by extraordinary performances, especially from Elba, Ceesay, Pinto and Kinnear. The concept of the series, as well as the dialogue, forms a solid foundation for the kind of great character development we expect from a Ridley product. There are few improbable moments in the first two episodes when you feel Ridley trying just a little too hard to make his points — almost, but not quite, at the expense of character credibility.
What speaks to the strength of the series’ concept is that by the second episode, you almost forget that “Guerrilla” is set nearly half a century ago. If it weren’t for the costumes, you could be watching a show set in modern-day London, or even a modernday American city.