Directed by Isaac Julien • 1991 • United Kingdom
Starring Valentine Nonyela, Mo Sesay, Sophie Okonedo
From the moment Parliament’s “P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)” erupts over the opening of Isaac Julien’s breakthrough feature, we know we’re in for a wild ride. The changes keep coming as a murder sets off a police investigation and waves of controversy in London’s Black community. The year is 1977, and while some people are busy getting ready to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee, others have more important things on their minds. Punks and Teds, National Front and Natty Dreads are fighting in the streets, and the authorities seem more interested in harassing the victim’s friends than in solving the crime. A riveting look at the forces of race, class, and sex that reshaped the UK just before the Thatcher years, YOUNG SOUL REBELS, which won the 1991 Critics’ Week Prize at Cannes, remains as exciting and vital today as ever.
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