Small Axe: Education

Name: Small Axe: Education
Genre: Drama
Released: December 18, 2020
Rating: 87
Cast: Calum Callaghan, Ciarán Owens, Jim Sturgeon, John Boyega, Joy Richardson

2020

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 15 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Ratings

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7.0

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7.0	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Amazon Prime Video | Release Date (Streaming): December 18, 2020

Starring: Calum Callaghan, Ciarán Owens, Jim Sturgeon, John Boyega, Joy Richardson, Marina Hayter, Martin Portlock, Stephen Boxer, Steve Toussaint, Tyrone Huntley

Summary: Education is the coming of age story of 12-year-old Kingsley (Kenyah Sandy), who has a fascination for astronauts and rockets. When Kingsley is pulled to the headmaster's office for being disruptive in class, he discovers he's being sent to a school for those with "special needs." Distracted by working two jobs, his parents (Sharlene Whyte,Education is the coming of age story of 12-year-old Kingsley (Kenyah Sandy), who has a fascination for astronauts and rockets. When Kingsley is pulled to the headmaster's office for being disruptive in class, he discovers he's being sent to a school for those with "special needs." Distracted by working two jobs, his parents (Sharlene Whyte, Daniel Francis) are unaware of the unofficial segregation policy at play, preventing many Black children from receiving the education they deserve, until a group of West Indian women take matters into their own hands.… Expand

Director: Steve McQueen

Genre(s): Drama

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Critic Reviews

Alonso Duralde

Dec 6, 2020

McQueen and co-writer Alastair Siddons capture that sense that the children of immigrants often have of living with one foot in their adopted country and one in their parents’ homeland. Read full review

The Playlist Robert Daniels

Dec 6, 2020

Education ends “Small Axe” on unsuspectingly grand terms. Yet the compact 63-minute coming-of-age film never loses its soft devoted touch. And McQueen, already an incredible filmmaker, shows another facet to his immense range. Read full review

Peter Debruge

Dec 13, 2020

The brilliance of this particular episode is how it allows us to see ourselves in Kingsley and to consider the many unseen forces at play in our own socialization. For Black audiences, it confirms many of those invisible barriers. For white ones, it may lead them to question whether the myth of their “success” owes in part to keeping others back. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Odie Henderson

Dec 18, 2020

This is heavy material, to be sure, but it’s not without dark humor. Read full review

The Film Stage Vikram Murthi

Dec 22, 2020

The simplicity of McQueen and Siddons’ screenplay is a feature, not a bug. More than any other film in Small Axe, Education resembles a kitchen sink drama in the vein of films from Mike Leigh or Ken Loach, where the political messaging remains crystal clear but is still filtered through personal narratives. Read full review

Clint Worthington

Dec 18, 2020

Education is a tinier, more intimate button on McQueen’s set of stories, but it’s one of its most potent: the simple act of learning is powerful actualization, so proven in the white establishment’s efforts to make it so inaccessible to Black people. Read full review

Movie Nation Roger Moore

Dec 7, 2020

It’s brief, but not so much to-the-point as wandering around it for an hour. And while it doesn’t spoil the effect of the whole, it does feel wanting as a finale. It’s the dullest “Small Axe” of the five. Read full review

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User Reviews

Ninja6

Jan 8, 2021

From a technical standpoint, the transformation of the mother character is some of the best acting in the Small Axe series. Powerful performance. The child acting in general is also strong. As an educator, the subject matter hits home and elicited the strongest emotions from the five for me.

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JLuis_001

May 8, 2021

Perhaps believing that racism is located only in how the "supposed" forces of order treat minorities, is a way of silently deluding oneself.
After all, many people have the mindset that if it doesn't happen to them, then it doesn't happen at all.
The prejudices created in educationalPerhaps believing that racism is located only in how the "supposed" forces of order treat minorities, is a way of silently deluding oneself.
After all, many people have the mindset that if it doesn't happen to them, then it doesn't happen at all.

The prejudices created in educational systems in order to keep the "undesirables" segregated is of course another form of racism. The subject of course as in all the previous films of this anthology perhaps fail to give a broader expression of everything that implies while presenting this vision of British racial problems, however McQueen is capable enough to provoke the discussion that many surely ignore, and they prefer to continue doing so.

Perhaps the biggest mistake of this anthology is that its own content landscape ended up playing against it a bit because in a way the topics demanded more than small 60-minute segments.
But still, I firmly believe that this was an excellent and ambitious narrative work.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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