![]() This is high praise indeed but, at the risk of sounding immodest, I can see the similarities.ĭirected by Ken Loach, Cathy Come Home acquired almost mythic status for the way it highlighted the plight of the homeless (and other social issues) in Britain in the 1960s. Among all the acclaim it has received, there were a number of comparisons on social media made to Cathy Come Home. I was surprised, then, when I found such enthusiasm for the project at the BBC, and subsequently from audiences. “Black” stories have always been regarded as niche, difficult to market. It’s one thing deciding to write a film about the Windrush scandal it’s quite another to convince a broadcaster that there is an audience for it. I still feel that way and perhaps I always will. How would he feel about dredging it all up again? How would I feel? I needed to tread carefully, and I did, but there was always a feeling in the back of my mind that I might be doing more harm than good. Though he wears it lightly, Anthony has been traumatised by his ordeal. ![]() “My fear, however, is that in all that noise, my brother’s story has become somewhat lost.” Photograph: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images He and my other siblings even teased me about it: as the only writer in the family, what use was I if not to tell a story like this? During our conversations, as he recounted what happened to him in a halting, almost embarrassed way, I realised I had a responsibility to get his story out there. Talking to Anthony made me think otherwise. There was a moment, which had to be seized, and I thought I might have missed it. So much had been said about the Windrush scandal by the time I sat down to write Sitting in Limbo, I feared the nation had reached saturation point. The writer, in my view, must be absent, in as much as it’s possible to be. ![]() The writer as political activist is something I’ve always tried to resist because it risks fostering the egotistical notion that writers are unduly important – that we are at the centre of things, not the story we are trying to tell. Some writers and directors have made entire, fruitful careers from this approach to storytelling, Ken Loach being arguably our most celebrated, but I’ve never seen my work in that way. Anthony’s story is so overtly political that even a fictional retelling could be dismissed as anti-government propaganda. The subject matter posed a different kind of challenge. The first and perhaps most difficult challenge was how to thread a line between truth and invention without compromising on either.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |