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Small Axe is a British anthology film series, created and directed by UK filmmaker Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave, Shame, Hunger, and Widows). The anthology consists of five films which tell distinct stories about the lives of West Indian immigrants in London from the 1960s to the 1980s.

The first “Black History Month” edition of “The Freak Power Ticket” in 2021 will take us overseas to Great Britain, as we pay tribute to the first feature-length episode of Small Axe, which is called Mangrove. Tune in later today, Monday morning, February 1st, to hear selections associated with Small Axe: Mangrove’s rather brilliant roots reggae soundtrack.

Depicting circumstances akin to the contemporary — and now Nobel Peace Prize-nominated — Black Lives Matter movement of our times, Mangrove is something like John Sayles’ Matewan (1987) crossed with a more traditional courtroom drama — a la Netflix’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020), by Aaron Sorkin, which dramatizes a much more familiar political case that unwound at around the same time as the so-called "Mangrove Nine."

Underscored by classic reggae, calypso, ska and more — including songs by Bob Marley and The Wailers and Toots and the Maytals — Mangrove reminded me of the music featured in the all-time classic, The Harder They Come (1972). Later this morning, I’ll spin a selection of songs featured on Mangrove’s unreleased original soundtrack, remixes of those too, plus tracks featuring The Specials, U Roy, Desmond Dekker, and The Sandollar Sound: a soundclash via Jamaica, the West Indies, and throughout the African diaspora.

Mangrove tells the story of a Notting Hill restaurant of the same name, around 1969-1970, which prided itself on catering to the Black immigrant population of the west London area with spicy food and a safe space for socializing, culture, and conversation of all types (including of a political nature). Persecuted by racist police brutality and an unrelenting, systematic harassment that threatened the very existence of the establishment, owner Frank Crichlow (Shaun Parkes) eventually agrees to the entreaties of a group of radical activists affiliated with trade unions and the British Black Panther Party. They organize a series of demonstrations that end up being met with a police attack and charges of conspiracy to riot.

Mangrove is rich in the period details of a vibrant, supportive community bustling with revolutionary ideas that reflected the anti-war, social, and racial-justice priorities surging around the globe during the late 1960s. The second half of the film next shifts to the legal case fought on behalf of the Mangrove Nine, which included the powerful Atheia Jones-LeCointe, as played by Letitia Wright of Marvel’s Black Panther fame. The post-colonial historian, journalist, and socialist CLR James looms in the background as one inspiration for the surging Black Power movement in the UK at that time, while his nephew Darcus Howe (Malachi Kirby) is one of the main defendants in this true-life tale.

The story resonates for viewers during our own contemporary period of racial inequality, its case having played a significant role in the struggle for civil rights in England.

We’ll celebrate the vitality of this rather stunning series of motion pictures by one of our top directors, Steve McQueen — with more to come during future programs.

“The Freak Power Ticket” airs at 91.9 KCSB-FM in Santa Barbara on Mondays in the winter from 11am-12noon PST, streaming live at www.kcsb.org. An archival recording is available for two weeks thereafter at the same URL.

This show is dedicated to the memory of Frederick Nathaniel "Toots" Hibbert (1942-2020) and to the cause of the Black Lives Matter Movement.