'Mangrove' Trailer: Letitia Wright Rallies The People In The First Movie Of Steve McQueen's 'Small Axe' Anthology

Amazon Prime Video has released the official trailer for Mangrove, the first of five films in Steve McQueen's highly anticipated Small Axe anthology series, two of which were included in the Cannes 2020 Official Selection. Mangrove, a rousing drama about the protest march of the Mangrove 9, a group of Black activists who clashed with London police during a protest march in 1970, was one of those selected for Cannes. See why it received that special distinction with the Mangrove trailer below.

After Letitia Wright stole the show in Black Panther, big things seemed to be in store for the rising young star. And she proves her star power and more with her lead role in Mangrove, which tells the story of the march of 150 protesters of West Indian, African, and South Asian heritage in Notting Hill, West London who protested police harassment in their communities. The trailer for Mangrove, named after the nine protest leaders arrested and charged with incitement to riot, has been released just days before the 50th anniversary of that march.

"Sunday, August 9th, is 50 years since the Mangrove March, which led to nine innocent Black women and men being arrested. It was a march necessitated by relentless police brutality in Notting Hill. To commemorate the bravery of these community activists and the nine who went on to be acquitted of incitement to riot with the judge citing 'evidence of racial hatred,' I am sharing the trailer of Mangrove, one of five films to be released under the banner Small Axe," said McQueen.

Mangrove looks to be a powerful film that tells a little-known civil rights struggle from the other side of the pond. And it must be powerful, considering that of McQueen's five Small Axe films, only it and Lovers Rock were included in the Cannes 2020 Official Selection. All five Small Axe films tell stories about London's West Indian community between the late 1960s and mid-1980s, and how their "lives have been shaped by their own force of will despite rampant racism and discrimination." The title refers to the African proverb, "If you are the big tree, we are the small axe."

Here is the synopsis for Mangrove:

McQueen's Mangrove tells this true story of the Mangrove 9, a group of Black activists who clashed with London police during a protest march in 1970, and the highly publicized trial that followed. The trial was the first judicial acknowledgment of behavior motivated by racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police. Letitia Wright (Black Panther), Shaun Parkes (Lost in Space), and Malachi Kirby (Curfew) star alongside Rochenda Sandall (Line of Duty), Jack Lowden (The Long Song), Sam Spruell (Snow White and the Huntsmen), Gershwyn Eustache Jnr (The Gentlemen), Nathaniel Martello-White (Collateral), Richie Campbell (Liar), Jumayn Hunter (Les Misérables), and Gary Beadle (Summer of Rockets). Mangrove was co-written by Alastair Siddons and Steve McQueen.

Mangrove, Lovers Rock, and Red, White, and Blue will all premiere during this year's 58th New York Film Festival, which runs from September 25-October 11, 2020. The full Small Axe anthology will premiere on Amazon later this year.