SOUl Issac Julien's 'Young Soul Rebels' gives a Black and gay youth perspective to 1977 and the era of punk. If, like me, your recollections of the 1977 Silver Tubilee are of painting countless Union Jacks to brighten up the drab London i Brick Company walls of the housing estate where you lived, then this is the film to see.
Issac Julien's Young Soul Rebels sings a different song. There're not too many commercial films that combine a murder story with an exploration of Black youth culture in the era of sexuality, the SWP and the Ant punk, mens' Nazi League, all against the backdrop of a patriotic red, and blue London Borough of Hackney council es tate The ambition alone is reason enough to pay the cinema a visit.
Sexuality
Chris (Valentine Nonyela) and Caz (Mo Sesay) are two 17 year old Black soul DJs, who run a pirate soul radio station, ' Soul Patrol'. Chris is straight, Caz is gay. Throughout the film Caz's sexuality is dealt with wholly positively (Julien himself is a Black gay man) and certainly not seen by Chris as a barrier to heir friendshir The murder that the film is set around is that of another Black gay man, T.J., at the local cottage. (For the uninitiated, cottages are areas that gay men frequent for casual sex). T.J.'s murder is seen differently through different eyes.
The murder of a Black man is seen as a racist attack on the Black community as a whole, at a time of feverish British nationalism. For the gay men who hang out at the cottage, there is the feeling that it could have been any one of them - yet another example of murderous homophobia. The police are fairly accurately presented as treating the murder in a totally racist, homophobic and dismis sive way.
Tensions
Chris and Caz become entangled in the search to find the killer. This is at the same time as they are frantically preparing for their alternative to the nationalistic celebrations - a 'Funk the Jubilee special pirate broadcast. The tensions abound and their friendship is stretched by Chris's individualism and Caz's love affair with a rather naive white punk SWP member.
Whilst the film can be praised for dealing with issues not normalv explorea in tne cinema (although the film does not have, predictably, mass distribution), there were weakmesses.
The female characters in the film are, by and large, restricted to Chris's mum, his sister, and the woman who later becomes his girlfriend, Tracy (Sophie Okonedo). All, including Tracy - the main woman character are presented in a way that makes them subordinate to 'the boys'.
Lesbians
There was also not a lesbian in sight! Even if there was no central lesbian character in the script, surely in the mixed club scenes (where gay men were seen kissing), there could have been room for some positive images of lesbians.
On a more positive note though, through looking at the issues of racism and homophobia largely within a youth culture context, the film does well to contrast the hope that was very much in evidence in the Black soul scene, with the nihilistic, almost self-destructive, largely white punk generation.
One final point. I hope that Julien's next feature film will avoid the pitfall of naff, cutiepie endings. A bit more oomph please! No. 8 Sept. 28, 1991 Page 13