Friday, December 16, 2011

Small Island: The Movie

Hello Meltingpot Readers,

Happy Friday.

As you know, I am a devoted Grey's Anatomy fan. Well, Grey's is on hiatus until 2012 so my Thursday nights have felt empty of late. So, I decided to find a movie to watch that would take my mind off the shenanigans of the doctor's at Seattle Grace. Of course, I went to my local library and scoured the DVD shelves for something delicious and I found it. A three-hour long BBC adaptation of Andrea Levy's award-winning novel, Small Island! I loved that book. As you faithful readers will recall, Levy was the one who started my serious love affair with Jamaican authors.

Small Island is about a lot of things; love, broken dreams, race, war, and the resilience of the human spirit to name a few. But if you want a basic plot description, it's about two couples, one White and one Black, one English and one Jamaican, and how their lives crash, collide and co-mingle during and just after WWII in London. I don't think I've ever said this before, but I loved the film as much as I loved the book. As I think back on it, I can't say the scenery was all that spectacular and they obviously had to cut much of the book out of the film, and yet I still found myself enraptured for the entire three hours because the actors were just that good. Really. They were all quite spellbinding. They truly brought Levy's characters to life. When it was over I cried, because it has kind of a sad ending, but also because I wanted to keep watching. Seriously, I already miss Gilbert, Hortense, Queenie and Bernard.



Lucky for me, the BBC is my kind of network. On the webpage for the film, there are plenty of links to follow for more information about the actors, the characters they play in the film and, best of all, first-person profiles of real Jamaicans who came to England post WWII, like the fictitious Hortense and Gilbert Joseph.

If you can find a copy of this film at your local library or perhaps you can order it online, it's worth it. At the very least, pick up the book if you haven't already.

So, does anyone have any other recommendations for BBC programs I should watch? I'm thinking about trying to find Zadie Smith's White Teeth? What do you think?

I'm listening.

Peace!


5 comments:

suga said...

Levy also furthered my love for authors from the Caribbean or who write of the Caribbean experience. I can't get enough of her writing.

If you haven't checked out Luther, staring Idris Elba, you should. It comes on BBC America and the first season is on DVD. It's spellbinding.

Jay said...

I dvr this off the cable channels and I really like ... I JUST WATCHED desert flower and that was very good and eyes opening .. let for let me know about .. I have pass on to few family and friends

Amy said...

Oh my gosh that looks amazing. I think I'll try to find it the library. And yes, I read White Teeth and saw the movie and you should definitely check it out!

Professor Tharps said...

Suga,
Thanks for the suggestion. I will totally check out Luther.

Jay,
Awesome!

Amy,
Thanks for the endorsement. I will now officially be on the look out for White Teeth.

generic viagra news said...

Another incredible BBC documentary! i never seen something like this before.