SISTER ACT (ROCKS)

 

According to statistics published in the UK, 4.2 million children in 2018-19 lived in poverty.

That amounts to around 30% of children.

Or to put it another way,  it is the equivalent of nine pupils in a classroom of 30.

In Northern Ireland, the Department for Communities told SDLP Assembly member Mark H Durkan last December that 120,000 children in the region were deemed to be living in poverty over the same period.

And that's before Covid-19 came along and plunged more families into crisis.

Over the border, official estimates last April put the level of child poverty in the Irish Republic at around 220,000 children.

That amounts to 18.4 per cent living in households with an income 60% below the 2017 national average.

One in seven kids in the US are estimated to be living in child poverty - that's about 11 million in total.

All of these are reasonably wealthy countries, yet the amount of children living in poverty is shocking.

Covid has exacerbated the divide between rich and poor and in normal circumstances, governments would be under considerable pressure to bridge the gap.

Right now Covid is dominating the news agenda.

Yet even before the world heard of Covid, many media owners preferred their news teams to feed the public with celebrity guff and scaremongering stories (and still do).

Populist politicians have chosen to wrap themselves in partisan rhetoric than tackle the real challenges on their doorstep.

Addressing child poverty may not boost ratings or attract votes but it should be at the top of the news and political agenda.

Anything that reminds us of the daily struggle that many children face is important.

Movies like Sarah Gavron's 'Rocks' are, therefore, extremely valuable for providing that insight 

Receiving its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2019, the film's original April 2020 release in the UK was delayed to September 2020 because of the first lockdown.

However a release by Netflix last December, followed by five British Independent Film Awards in February including Best Picture and seven BAFTA nominations have deservedly given Gavron's film a second wind.

Very much in the tradition of realist English filmmakers like Ken Loach, Andrea Arnold, Mike Leigh and Andrew Haigh, Gavron's film tells the story of Bukky Bakray's teenager Olushola Omotoso.

Known as Rocks to her mates, she grows up in a Hackney block of flats with her much younger brother D'angelou Osei Kissiedu's Emmanuel and their single mother, Layo-Christina Akinlude's Funke.

Rocks is a happy go lucky kid from a Nigerian background who likes to hang about with her friends on the roof of her building.

Quick to have a laugh with her gang, she has a flair for make-up artistry and is begging for the chance to shine.

But all is not well at home - Funke is gripped by depression.

One morning, she bids farewell to her daughter and son as they head off to school but Gavron and her cinematographer Helene Louvart let their camera linger on her for a while and we can see the cracks.

When the kids return, Funke has gone.

Rocks and Emmanuel are left a small sum of money to feed themselves and a note from their mum, saying she has gone away to clear her head but will be back soon.

At first, this doesn't seem to bother Rocks who accepts the situation - suggesting this isn't the first time Funke has abandoned her kids because of her mental health.

But the longer her absence, the more desperate the situation becomes.

Emmanuel becomes more upset, hanging about the flat in a state of abandonment - waiting by the window initially.

Succumbing to anger, he insists he never wants to see his mother again.

Ashamed by their situation, cold and desperate to keep her and her brother away from social services, Rocks shuttles them both between friends' houses but does not reveal their plight.

Kosar Ali's good hearted friend Sumaya initially provides a place to stay while her Somali family celebrates an engagement.

The celebration and the family's togetherness only rams home how broken Rocks' domestic situation is.

The impending sense of desperation and doom around Rocks and Emmanuel contrasts sharply with the vibrant escape that school provides as she trades banter with her friends.

The arrival of a new student, Shaneigha-Monik Greyson's Roshe disturbs the school dynamic.

Things come to a head after Rocks manages to wangle the cash for her and Emmanuel to stay in a pretty basic hotel, eventually turning to her middle class school friend, Ruby Stokes' Agnes for help.

Audiences will be reminded of neo realist classics like Vittorio da Sica's 'The Bicycle Thieves' and Ken Loach's 'Cathy Come Home' and 'Raining Stones' which focus on desperate people in a desperate state of poverty.

But what gives Gavron's film a different twist is its depiction of friendship.

The dynamic between the girls inside and outside school will remind audiences of Celine Sciamma's 'Girlhood' and it is this bond that lifts the film out of its bleakest moments to give some real moments of joy and bittersweetness.

Gavron, who gave us 'Brick Lane' and 'Suffragette' and her cinematographer unobtrusively let the action unfold and, as a result, the slightest of things take on great significance.

Having spent time cultivating a friendship among the teenage cast before filming, she is able to coax out authentic performances.

Nominated for a BAFTA for Best Actress, Bukky Bakray is terrific as a good hearted kid who winds up being more of a mother than a sister to Emmanuel.

However it is a measure of how impressive Gavron is at handling her young cast that D'angelou Osei Kissiedu captured the British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Rocks' younger brother.

Kosar Ali also won BIFAs for Best Newcomer and Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Sumaya and has deservedly landed a BAFTA nomination in the latter category.

In truth, all of the cast are jaw droppingly good - with Shaneigha-Monik Greyson, in particular, standing out as Roshe.

'Rocks' also confirms Gavron has developed into an English filmmaker of substance and Theresa Ikoko and Claire Wilson deserve a lot of praise for their screenplay which provides a strong foundation for the film.

It would be fantastic if 'Rocks' could pull off a shock at the BAFTAs in one of the major categories.

If it goes home empty handed on the night that would be a huge travesty.

The biggest result, however, would be spurring society into a more honest conversation about child poverty.

MPs, MLAs, MSPs and MSs should be shown this film and asked how they will tackle the kind of problems Rocks and Emmanuel encounter.

Getting angry is not enough. 

Getting motivated to address the problem is much more important.

Actions really do speak louder than words.

('Rocks' received its UK and Ireland release on September 18, 2020)