John Boyega and Steve Toussaint are brilliant as Leroy Logan and his father Kenneth, Englishmen of Jamaican descent in 1980s London. Kenneth has been scarred by persistent police oppression, and is determined that his son overcome systemic racism through educational achievement, by being "more British than the British". Leroy starts the film as a research scientist, but then joins the police force to try to fight racism from within. The film, based on real life, focuses on the conflict between Leroy and Kenneth; the conflict between Leroy and his racist fellow officers; and the conflict between Leroy and his community, many of whom regard him as a sellout "coconut".
The most controversial part of the film is its ending. Many reviews here have noted that the film ends too soon, and that was my initial reaction as well. Upon further reflection I think that the ending is just right. We expect the film to last another 40-60 minutes so that we can have a satisfying story arc, in which Leroy changes the prejudiced attitudes of the other officers, while building more trust in the community. By not giving us that ending, director Steve McQueen is pointedly telling us that such change doesn't happen in real life, at least not on a Hollywood time scale. The only conflict that is resolved is the one between Leroy and his father, who come to respect their differences and drink together to the observation that real change is at best a slow-turning wheel.
The most controversial part of the film is its ending. Many reviews here have noted that the film ends too soon, and that was my initial reaction as well. Upon further reflection I think that the ending is just right. We expect the film to last another 40-60 minutes so that we can have a satisfying story arc, in which Leroy changes the prejudiced attitudes of the other officers, while building more trust in the community. By not giving us that ending, director Steve McQueen is pointedly telling us that such change doesn't happen in real life, at least not on a Hollywood time scale. The only conflict that is resolved is the one between Leroy and his father, who come to respect their differences and drink together to the observation that real change is at best a slow-turning wheel.