It’s been a long five years sincethe horrific murder of George Floyd– long enough to have forgotten the international uprising it provoked, perhaps, but also to ask what theBlack Lives Matter (BLM) movementreally achieved. As the title hints, it’s been a bumpy ride.
This unfussy but hardworking British-made documentary is by no means a definitive answer but it provides a timely recap, and a human scale to one of the most momentous events in modern history. Its focus is mainly on the UK side of the story, but it begins and ends in the US; first with police bodycam footage of that fateful day in Minneapolis, as officers pull a confused and anxious Floyd from his car and lay him on the pavement, and also the now-infamous bystander footage of officer Derek Chauvin mercilessly kneeling on Floyd’s neck.
One thing that is easy to forget is just how quickly events unfolded. The first protest in Minneapolis was the day after Floyd’s death (local civil rights activist Nekima Levy Armstrong emerges as a powerful voice here); within a week, millions of BLM protesters were taking to the streets around the world, andJohn Boyega was giving an impassioned speechat a huge protest in London’s Hyde Park. Just two weeks later,Edward Colston’s statuewas being pulled down in Bristol and chucked in the harbour. Days after that came the“white lives matter” counter-protestsin Britain, which often devolved into racist chanting and violence against the police. And all this during the Covid lockdowns, with both Donald Trump and Boris Johnson failing to rise to the moment. Fevered times.
The levels of brutality might differ on either side of the Atlantic but Britain’s history of slavery, societal racism and police violence against Black people is discussed in detail – from British victims of police violence such as Julian Cole and Dalian Atkinson, to activist Khady Gueye, who fought to stage a BLM protest in the predominantly white Forest of Dean and received racist abuse because of it. Other talking heads reminisce and speak of their lived experience, including Reni Eddo-Lodge, Miquita and Andi Oliver, police chief Neil Basu and satirist Munya Chawawa.
The story ends with Chauvin’s trial and conviction nearly a year later but there is no attempt to dress this up as a happy ending. We are left fearing for whatever progress has been made, especially with a Trump second term ongoing. “There was a moment where we took charge of the narrative,” says Andi Oliver, “and look how resentful people have been about it.” But this story underlines how BLM at least got people talking about racial injustice like never before, vindicating and emboldening communities that had been oppressed and ignored. That conversation is far from over.
Backlash: The Murder ofGeorge Floydis in UK cinemas from 9 May.