FILM REVIEW: Knife Crime London - Iurie Grama, Leyton Sixth Form College, London.

This five minute short film was written, directed, filmed, edited and promoted all by the same young man, Iurie Grama, who at the time of making this film was a final year student at Leyton Sixth Form College in East London, and this formed a part of his Level 3 Media Studies final project (2018).

It's actually a very intelligently filmed piece since the dialogue is hardly audible, and what we do hear are the grunts and ejaculations of the youths rather than perfectly articulated and audible words from trained actors; the sound quality is poor, deliberately so, giving it an authenticity, a kind of real-life, real-time, spy documentary, rather than a clinical professionally filmed BBC reportage; and the action and acting is raw and guttural, Grama obviously using his classmates and friends to be the characters in the film rather than paying for professional actors. All this adds to the sense that this is happening and immediate rather than it being a mock-up for advisory purposes. - and it works. Even when the stabbing actually occurs and sadly, that is the one moment in the film which COULD have been better acted, we don't seem to mind, as we already understand the set-up.

The film is about, for and also against, the youths it depicts. These young men hang around a playground sharing drugs and talking 'big', using the contemporary gangsta slang and gesticulations to indicate they belong. Dodgy dealings are done, illicit meetings take place, but when one gets a little too greedy, he ends up knifing his own friend, seemingly unperturbed.

This is a film, it isn't reality. However it is about as close to the real deal as hopefully most of us will ever get. The warning is stark and clear though. This is happening, not just in east London, but all over, and the threat of knives and violence with knives is growing day by day. It's not a nice film, it's not meant to be, and the film leaves you with a sense of helplessness and disgust. May this be a warning to you all... for no-one is immune from a young lad with a knife in his pocket and an ax to grind!

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 3/12/19