KIDULTHOOD
UK, 2006, 89 minutes, Colour.
Aml Ammen, Red Madrell, Noel Clarke, Jamie Winstone, Adam Deakin, Femi Oyeniran, Nicholas Hoult.
Directed by Menhaj Huda.
Not a bad coinage, ‘kidulthood’, to describe the pressures on teenagers to act like adults (or to mimic adults behaviour which they really don’t understand). (Also impressive is a coinage from an Australian Baptist minister who wanted to describe the retrogression in adult crises, ‘middlessence’!)
This is a West London slice of life which is depressing and makes one despair about the future. Obviously things are not always as bad as what we see in this 48 hour period of young people’s lives. Writer, Noel Clarke, who plays the central school bully, 19 year old Sam, is in fact now 30 and draws on his own experiences in his screenplay (even filming in his neighbourhood and flat to save budget expenses). The film has that sense of realism. However, Clarke in interviews has made the point strongly that ‘the film is not trying to promote, rationalise or justify’ any of the behaviour we see.
And the film is not lacking in disturbing behaviour – which Clarke says is reported daily in the news. The film opens with very cruel and physical bullying leading to a suicide. There are drugs easily available, as well as sex and teenage pregnancy. There is the background of London gangs and brutality and torture. Parent ignorance and/or neglect. And more affluent kids throwing parties in their parents’ absence where violence breaks out and someone is killed. Reminiscent of Larry Clarks 1995 look at New York teenagers (though less prurient), this is a call to awareness and vigilance. But, has society let things get out of control?
Kidulthood, convincingly acted in scenes which we would hope are exaggerated, is both depressing and alarming.
1.British education, 2005? The picture of school life? Family, neighbourhood? The consequences of this kind of life?
2.The work of the writer, his own experiences, his own home for budget purposes, as an actor?
3.The title and its play on words? Insight into the experience of these 15-year-olds?
4.Authentic story and issues, the stories from the headlines of the media? The adolescents and their age, educational background, functional or dysfunctional families? The violence in the atmosphere, pressures, peers, expectations? The drug background? Sexual relationships?
5.The visual style, the pace, the moods, the use of light and darkness, locations, intimate scenes? Musical score? Songs?
6.The school scenes, the bullying, the groups in the yard? The bashing? The humiliations? The helplessness of the teachers?
7.Katie, her friend, her being bullied at school, the humiliations? Her going home, her parents being busy and offhand, playing the music in her room, writing the note, killing herself?
8.The reactions, the adolescents and their feelings? It not having much effect? Their not having school? The heartless touch? Some puzzled about why Katie killed herself? The students named in her note? Her brother, his reaction, wanting revenge? His masked attack at the party and the gun, the violence?
9.Trife and his friends? His parents? The three meeting? Jay and his self-image, small, his sexual view of himself? Trife and the decision to raid Sam’s flat? Mooney and his playing games, following Trife? Their going to Sam’s house, taking the CD? The consequences? Trife and the day, after the raid, his relationship with Alisa?
10.Trife and his uncle, his doing the job on the guns at school, the discussions with his uncle, the car, the young man who was the thief? Meeting his uncle later, the pressure on Trife to violence, to cut the face of the thief, his hesitation, doing it, the aftermath? With Alisa, their ups and downs, her pregnancy, his disbelief, his accusations? His change of heart? Going to the party, the possibilities, the reconciliation with Alisa, the prospect of the baby? The fight, Sam, his death?
11.Mooney, Jay, their following, participating, their own self-image? The repercussions of Trife’s death?
12.Alisa, her friendship with Jamie? At home, her mother? Their talk, admitting her pregnancy? The phone call to Trife? His rejecting her? Their going shopping, the dresses, the prospect of the party? Going to the drug men, the sexual behaviour and favours? The abortion? Her decisions, changing her mind about the party, going home, being invited, the climax, the possibilities of a future with Trife, his death? Her going to the ambulance to go to the hospital?
13.Jamie, her self-centredness, listening to Alisa, the issue of the abortion, her drug friends, her blasé sexual attitudes, the drugs, the shopping, the party?
14.Sam, at home, bullying at school, the gang, his mother? The raid and his mother’s reaction? His wanting vengeance on Trife? The day, the sex with his girlfriend, offhand, her just being a follower, her mother? Going to the party, the confrontation, the shooting?
15.Forty-eight hours in the life of these adolescents, a glimpse? Hope or pessimism?
16.The well-off students in the area, white, throwing the party, parents away, Blake and his being the host, trying to get on well with all the racial groups? The party itself, getting out of hand, the violence, the consequences?
