Steve McQueen's great anthology series on the West Indian community in London in the '80s

 High praise for Steve McQeen's groundbreaking series on Prime, Small Axe, a collection of 5 films (one true movie-length, 90 or so minutes, the other 4 clocking at about an hour, sort of a mini-movie or an episode), all of which depict the West Indies community in London in the 1980s, w/ an obvious emphasis on the injustices inflicted and the challenge of assimilation into or accommodation of the dominant white English political and cultural climate. Three of the 4 episodes (it's not an episodic series in any conventional sense as each episode stands on its own and there is no particular continuity of character or setting other than the overall principles) depict struggles w/ authority. The first episode, closest to a standalone movie, depicts the police harassment of a man who opens a restaurant in the community and whom the police suspect of harboring criminal and dealing in Rx; this episode, based on true events, led to a criminal indictment of about 10 people and long and controversial trial in a high-level and highly unsympathetic court (Americans will be reminded of the Chicago 7 trial). the 2nd episode is unique in the series, a simple story of a group of West Indians who turn their house into what today we'd call a popup nightclub - serving food and drinks, providing the music and the venue, and people show up for a long night of dancing and love; there's no real plot to this episode, and I have to say for me it was my least fave of the 5, though some reviewers have felt just the opposite. The 3rd episode was about a man who, as a child, saw his father wrongfully arrested and harassed, which led him to try to break the color barrier and join the London police force, to his father's dismay - again, based on actual people and events. The 4th is another that depicted in illegal arrest and harassment of a young man, an aspiring reggae singer, who was present at a riotous demonstration - a man who was about to turn his back on society but was persuaded by a cellmate to pursue his education, and he (Wheatle) has got on to a career and a prolific novelist (also based on real people and events!). The 5th and final episode, like its predecessor, puts for the message of the importance of education - in this case looking at the separate and unequal schools provided for students with learning disabilities, including many black students (and focused on 1) sent to one of these so-called schools because he was disruptive; a movement arose to get rid of these schools and provide real education and services for students with disabilities - based on a true issue and struggle (true in many locations and persistent today). All told this series is a great social documentary about a changing, evolving, struggling immigrant culture as seen through the daily lives and actions of a wide range of characters. It would be great to see other directors take on this anthology format, but I'm not holding my break on that.