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ACTOR
Medina AijikawoNikki Amuka-BirdJotham AnnanFeyi Babalola
DIRECTOR
Ngozi Onwurah
SYNOPSICS
Shoot the Messenger (2006) is a English movie. Ngozi Onwurah has directed this movie. Medina Aijikawo,Nikki Amuka-Bird,Jotham Annan,Feyi Babalola are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2006. Shoot the Messenger (2006) is considered one of the best Drama movie in India and around the world.
Shoot The Messenger follows one man's painful journey towards self-discovery. On the way he finds both his own attitudes and the expectations of his community challenged.
Shoot the Messenger (2006) Reviews
Not to be taken at face value
Really, anyone who thinks this film is racist clearly has no capacity to look beyond the blatantly obvious and try to understand the real meaning of this stunning story. The fact that a film maker can be so bold and provocative as to verbalise the issues that are explored, and really go deeper into the race question than just "he's wrong he's right", and that someone can ignore political correctness and risk offending people in order to really get down to the gritty issues behind racism and race stereotyping is a testament to what can be done with film these days. I think that this is an intelligent, important and very brave piece of work, that will undoubtedly incur criticism, but that at the very least will remind people that race IS still an issue and that it requires more thought and understanding than is generally applied to it. I think that this is as cinematically close to Studs Terkel as possible.
Stripping Black Britain Naked!!! & About Time Too!!!!
I felt obligated to comment after reading the comment by toyin@ligali.org from London, UK. www.ligali.org is the African British Equality Authority. A Pan African Human Rights Organisation that challenge the misrepresentation of African people and culture in the British media. Their remit is to actively campaign for cultural, economic, political and social justice on behalf of the African community. I feel a need to put forward an alternative position as I feel that the Legali agenda has created a bias and I feel a need to represent those of us without a political agenda. Dear Toyin, I really appreciated your comments on "Shoot The Messenger", I totally see where you are coming from but I felt compelled to offer my own 2 cents (or pence rather). First of the film explored the British Caribbean experience which is vastly different from that of Africans. Correct me if I am wrong but none of the lead characters were African all of Caribbean heritage. Following the history of slavery, Caribbeans tend to carry more of the psychological wounds and perpetuate the ideology of the slave master to their own children. A demonstration of this was the scene where the grandmother was hot combing her grand daughter's hair, commenting that her mother should have selected a light skinned partner to ensure the texture was silkier. Now in your experience you may find this an inaccurate representation of Black Britain but you must appreciate that just because you don't align yourself with this value system many blacks do. I have had the misfortune of hearing one too many black women make similar comments. In reference to the forget about slavery comment, I don't believe that was intended to motivate us to forget about our rich heritage and assimilate to being Westerners but to move past slavery. Yes acknowledge how it has affected and hindered us but we have to move on and create a successful present and future for black people. Slavery has devastated black people across the globe but it seems we are still wallowing in the misery of slavery waiting to be rescued...by who I hasten to add. You must appreciate that this film is satirical (very subtle yes) but satire none the less. The character was absolutely ridiculous and to use him as a motif for Black Britain is ludicrous. Instead he was a vehicle to raise issues that affect a significant number of Black Britons particularly of the Caribbean persuasion. I must reiterate you were probably offended because you couldn't identify with the issues raise or maybe you felt that film represented the minority as the majority.....but do we really know the percentages. I've lived in South London and there wasn't much that looked out of place. I personally found the film shocking, shocking because they kept it real, too real. I felt like a *segment* of Black Britain was stripped naked for all to see. It put the issues facing many *out there* in the open and enabled us as a collective to examine why Black Britain is the way it is today. Granted we have many obstacles hindering our progress but to be honest, many black children don't have the support network available to succeed...parents!! I grew up on the same council estate that reared the group So Solid Crew, had it not been for my strong African parent (*singular*: absent Jamaican father) to instill the importance of education, I probably wouldn't be sitting here in the Corporate Finance Unit, undertaking my accountancy qualification which was all made possible by way of my UCL Bachelor of Science degree. I'm hardly a success story but I'm doing a lot better than my Caribbean counterparts who by now have two or three kids, living on a council estate, using their child benefit money to buy weed!! Again this isn't the story of every black woman in the UK but it is someone's story and the writer of Shoot The Messenger has the right to tell her story. In summary it was thought provoking, entertaining, painfully honest And SHOCKING. The comment that we were more productive as slaves was POWERFUL. If your commentary was describing the atrocities that were Bullet Boy or Kidadulthood, I would have agreed with you 110% but this film was far more sophisticated. One man's journey that touched on a great deal of issues affecting millions across the globe. I believe the film will have a positive impact, creating a forum for discussion. Hopefully black people all over the country will be talking about *Shoot The Messenger* and recognise and stop perpetuating the ideology of the slave master which we have been carrying for hundreds of years and think more about what can be done to empower OURSELVES. Many black people have been living on auto-pilot. It's time to WAKE UP (School Daze Spike Lee)
Hear the message
As can be seen from some of the comments posted here, there are plenty of people intent on 'shooting the messenger', rather than listen to the message itself. In this case, the message happens to be the questioning of blame-culture which exists among certain sections of the black community. It is the contention of the author (Sharon Foster, herself a black writer) that it is this culture, and not that which is being blamed (ie white people), which is the cause of black underachievement. It is a serious argument, and one that can withstand close scrutiny, but that hasn't stopped the usual suspects from using their lazy cries of 'Racism' to try and silence the debate. A similar point was made during the film itself and it is interesting that many of the same terms of abuse used to castigate the main character in the film are identical to the ones being thrown around here (mainly by people who don't appear to have seen it). That would seem to indicate that Foster is, indeed, on to something. Of course, this film could amount to no more than a 'worthy' drama, but 'Shoot The Messenger' is much more than that, due, in no small measure, to the quality of the writing. Foster has constructed an engrossing journey of self-discovery which begins with provocative words ( a gauntlet deliberately thrown in the face of the audience) uttered by Joe Pascale (excellently played by David Oyelowo), a well-intentioned but somewhat aloof black teacher, who falls foul of the authorities after he is accused of hitting a pupil. The fact that this is not true does not prevent him being vilified on a local black radio station. He loses the case in court and this leads him into a spiral of depression and madness, which he increasingly blames on black people (an interesting inversion of the blaming of white people which seems acceptable among his black contemporaries). I found this portion of the work the least satisfactory since the script sped over his insanity rather too quickly leading to loss of detail. After spending some time on the street, he is befriended by a middle-aged Black Christian lady. It is at this point the script really catches fire with some astute and occasionally hard-hitting views of the black community. All of this is maintained by a high degree of directorial energy and a high class cast. Highly recommended.
This TV film was shocking yet truthful at times
This TV film was shocking yet truthful at times. Yes, the film discusses racism and the prejudices facing black people in British society. However, it cleverly illustrates the lack of support within the black community, it shows the lead character, a teacher who believes that by giving his troubled black pupils detention, he can enforce education on them. However, when a particular student accuses him of assault his own community turn against him. From that he goes on a journey in discovering and highlighting the problems, for example, black single mothers, black troubled youths, black religious beliefs, and so on, do not judge this film, if you have not seen it. I am not going to give too much away, because I do not want to spoil it for anyone. I found it extremely funny and upsetting at times, do not avoid this film .
Many Meanings
I just saw this film at the AFI Film Fest, where the director, writer, producer and majority of cast, spoke and conducted a Q&A. From a film-making stand point, the film was so wonderfully portrayed that messages could be received and interpreted from many social angles. Everything, from the focus pulls to the set and costume design, constructed a milieu conducive to an effective portrayal of a young man's struggle and confrontation with his racial identity and reconciliation. When asked for the core meaning of her film, Onwurah simple said that so many meanings could be extracted to fit each individual that no specific meaning fits any one person. With that in mind, I found the power of forgiveness an amazing issue raised in this film. Joseph, the main character, after we fallow him through the development of his resentment toward black people, learns to forgive those that have wronged him. What is most interesting and perhaps convoluted is how he comes to his forgiveness. He finally faces the boy that triggered a series of events that ruined his life with understanding. At one point, Joseph realizes to work towards forgiveness, not for the benefit of the forgiven, but instead for himself. To see how he comes to this conclusion, you just have to watch the film. The power of this concept of forgiveness, as a benefit to ourselves, can be applied to so many aspects of our lives that to see it evinced in this film made watching and understanding it truly worth while... What's your meaning?