Pressure

Pressure is a 1976 British drama film and the first feature-length fiction film directed by a Black film-maker in Britain. Directed by Horace Ové, and co-written by him with Samuel Selvon, Pressure is a powerful portrait of inter-generational tensions between first- and second-generation West Indian migrants in London's Notting Hill area. According to Julia Toppin, Pressure is a product of its time, but the issues and themes it explores remain relevant to the black experience in Britain today, including the cycle of educational deprivation, poverty, unemployment and antisocial behaviour. The depiction of police harassment and the controversial 'sus' (suspicion) laws is echoed by the similar, and equally controversial, 'Stop and Search' policy of today. The film also explores media under-reporting and misrepresenting of black issues and protests. ...Pressure remains a key Black British film, which helps to demonstrate how modern multi-cultural Britain was shaped. The film highlighted how the media intentionally twisted the way events unfolded and described events in ways that favoured the whites, rather than explaining what truly occurred. In the film, there was a scene when police raided a black power gathering without any warrant or reason to believe members were participating in illegal activities. Officers beat up black political activists, carrying bats and bringing in dogs, and arrested the activists for no reason. When Tony and members of the black power movement listened to the news, the story the media told described how six policemen were violently beaten up in a demonstration and three were seriously injured and hospitalized. According to the media’s account, the police were not the ones at fault—the black people were. There was no mention of how the black people were seriously and unjustifiably beaten up by the police, how no one called an ambulance for them or how the police arrested the black activists with no evidence. The film also focused on discrimination in the work field. Although the main character, Tony, graduated at the top of his class and was qualified for many jobs, he struggled to find employment in a prejudiced society that favored whites. The film demonstrated how black people were stuck in a system that held them back and prevented them from reaching their aspirations and achieving the jobs they deserved, so they had to settle for minimal jobs or no job.