Babylon
Franco Rosso, GB 1980Screenplay: Franco Rosso, Martin Stellman; Cinematography: Chris Menges; Editing: Thomas Schwalm; Music: Dennis Bovell; Cast: Brinsley Forde, Karl Howman, Trevor Laird, T-Bone Wilson, Beverly Michaels, Maggie Steed. DCP (from 35mm), color, 95 min. English/Creole with German subtitles
"Nobody had ever tried to do that kind of thing before and it shook up a lot of people really, because it was, of course, what everyone was aware of, but nobody had actually put onto film." (Franco Rosso)
Italian-born British director Franco Rosso began his career as an assistant editor on Ken Loach's Kes (1969), and made a series of hard-hitting dramas and documentaries on black-oriented themes, including The Mangrove Nine (1973) about a group of British black activists falsely tried for inciting a riot, and Dread Beat And Blood (1979) featuring Jamaica-born, British-based Dub poet and political activist Linton Kwesi Johnson. However, it was undeniably his debut feature film Babylon (1980) that brought him critical acclaim and respect for being the fearless warrior of the disenfranchised.
An incendiary portrait of the racial tension and police atrocities reflective of the 1980s London, and set against a newly-installed Thatcher government, Babylon follows a young Rastafarian DJ Blue (Brinsley Forde, frontman of Aswad), a car mechanic by day and rising reggae star by night, as he pursues his musical ambitions of winning a Reggae Sound System competition while also battling the widespread racism and xenophobia of employers, neighbors, police, and the far-right group, National Front. The film draws its title from the Jamaican-Rastafarian slang 'Babylon' used by Black British youth for police and other establishment systems that were considered corrupt and hostile towards people of colour.
Shot entirely on location in South London over six weeks, with no shiny names and a near non-white cast, Babylon's cult classic status and enduring appeal are rooted in its extraordinarily gifted cast & crew, and their resolve to co-create an uncompromising piece of cinema that is both devastating and eye-opening. Co-written by Martin Stellman (Quadrophenia, 1979) and expertly shot by twice Oscar winner Chris Menges (The Killing Fields, The Mission) with lucid, smoky cinematography that's been compared to Taxi Driver, Babylon is fearless and unsentimental, yet tempered by the hazy bliss of Dancehall, and set to a blistering Reggae, Dub and Lovers Rock soundtrack featuring prominent musicians of British-Caribbean heritage such as Yabby U, I-Roy, Aswad, and Dennis Bovell.
Babylon had its world-premiere at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival to a near-unanimous acclaim. It was released in the UK later that year with an X rating (denoting 'adults-only' viewership) amidst a climate of civil unrest and uprising. Interestingly, the New York Film Festival declared it "too controversial and likely to incite racial tension," and it wasn't until four decades later that Babylon was released in the United States in 2019. 45 years on, Rosso's landmark film whose very title allegorizes the marginalized existence of Black youth in 1980s London has gained the status of a Black-British cult classic. (A.S.)
Film talk with screenwriter Martin Stellman and Anupma Shanker on November 8, 2024 / Introduced by Anupma Shanker on November 16, 2024
