'Small Axe': A Searing Portrait Of Racism And A Community's Will To Survive

Steve McQueen has made searingly powerful films about historical injustice, from slavery in the American South to a 1981 hunger strike in a Northern Irish prison. But only now has he dramatized the experiences of Black women and men in the U.K., specifically the West Indian neighborhoods of London where he grew up. He clearly has a lot to say: His anthology Small Axe, which he directed and co-wrote, consists of five dramatic films, each one telling a different story set between the 1960s and the 1980s.

I haven't seen the last two films in the series, Alex Wheatle and Education, which will air later in December. But the first three are terrific: Engrossing, vibrantly shot and superbly acted, they draw us deep into a community defined by its strong bonds, often expressed in joyous scenes of characters singing, dancing and sharing meals. But they also show how hard-won that joy is.