‘Red, White And Blue’ Starring John Boyega On Amazon Prime Video

Steve McQueen’s third film in the Small Axe collection, Red, White and Blue, aired on BBC One last Sunday November 29. The movie is now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video since December 4. Starring the Sar Wars actor John Boyega, the film is based on the true story of Leroy Logan, who gave up his job as a scientist to become a police officer in 1980s London in order to try and change racist attitudes.

Leroy Logan was a superintendent in the Metropolitan Police, and became one of London’s top officers. He was born to Jamaican parents, and first became a research scientist, before deciding to apply to work in the police force. In 2001, he was awarded an MBE by the Queen for his role in developing anti-racist policies for the police.

Red, White and Blue tells the story of how and why Logan changed career and entered the police force. John Boyega, who plays Leroy Logan, is here perhaps in his best role yet. Steve Toussaint is touchingly mesmerizing as Leroy’s father Kenneth. This is a film about bigotry and racism in the police force, as well as a story of a father and a son trying to understand each other as their views on how to combat racism differ completely.

As the film opens, Red, White and Blue shows a very young Leroy Logan waiting for his father, holding his instrument case, outside his school. Two police men pull over by the school gates, and start harassing him, stop and searching the school boy, who is still wearing his school uniform, until Leroy’s father, Kenneth (Steve Toussaint) finally arrives to put a stop to it. One of the policemen tells the father to watch his attitude.

In the car, the relationship between Leroy and his father is visibly strained, as Leroy changes the radio stations for a more upbeat song and Kenneth abruptly turns it off. The subjects of this film will be twofold as these opening sequences to the film show. This is a film about racism in the British police force in the 1980s, but it is also a film about a father/son relationship.

Years later, Leroy is now a scientist, playing Scrabble with his family. His mother is disconcerted when Leroy’s wife spells the word “sex” on the board, and Kenneth can’t bring himself to add the letter “y” to form the word “sexy.” As the film will show, Kenneth is the one who likes to keep order in his family, even if this means he loses at a Scrabble game. He is the only authority Leroy needs, Kenneth told him as a boy.

As Leroy visits his new home with his wife, he tells her of his thinking of entering the police force. She tells him that the job would suit him because he likes to have things done to the letter. Leroy though makes up his mind about joining the police after his father is attacked and beaten up by two policemen.

His introduction into the police force is arduous, not only because of the racism Leroy faces with some of his colleagues and superiors, but also because his father cannot understand nor accept that his son could give up his career as a research scientist, after years of study and a PhD, to restart again and become a policeman. The scene when Kenneth finally hugs his son before he enters the police school is especially touching, particularly because of the way Steve McQueen shows it, in the distance through the windshield, as Al Green’s “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart” continues to play on the car radio.

Steve McQueen’s films are always surprising in his direction and choice of images. There is always a surprising new angle to mundane gestures—such as this unforeseen low angle shot of Leroy’s father stepping out of his truck—or a focus on objects which would have gone unnoticed normally. This is what in part makes McQueen’s films so mesmerizing and refreshing.

Red, White and Blue captures the strained relationship between a father and his son, each having a contrasting approach to the racism they endure, in this biopic about a research scientist who decided to become a policeman to end racism within the police force.