In most biopics, filmmakers offer their audience a sweeping bird’s-eye view of the life of a historical figure. These films chronicle the person’s childhood and any trials or tribulations they may have faced before ending in a typical flourish of the subject’s successes and triumphs. In Alex Wheatle, the fourth film in the Small Axe anthology, which follows London’s West Indian community from the 1960s into the 1980s, Steve McQueen offers something different. The British-born filmmaker presents a snapshot of the life of a young man who was never meant to rise above his circumstances.
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