Hostile

Sonita Gale’s directorial debut puts today’s Britain under the microscope with a special focus on the country’s immigrants.

Already well established as a producer, Sonita Gale makes her directorial debut with this deeply felt documentary and she proves to be a fluent filmmaker. As the daughter of parents who came to Britain from abroad, she has understandably chosen for her subject the situation of migrants in the United Kingdom. Not surprisingly scenes are included which look back on such past events as the arrival of the Empire Windrush in 1948 and the notorious speeches of Enoch Powell two decades later while mention of our colonial history leads to footage relating to the partition of India in 1947. Nevertheless, the main emphasis here is on the current situation as portrayed in scenes shot for the film from April 2020 onwards. As a view of how the outlook in Britain is changing, the film pinpoints how a country that was once for the most part inclusive has become increasingly exclusive in its policies.

To make her point, Sonita Gale has wisely chosen to put the focus on two bodies and two individuals. The former are the Community Response Kitchen in Brent founded by Daksha Varsani and Paresh Jethwa and the Newham Community Project in East London set up by Elyas Ismail. The individuals, both of them established here but struggling to be allowed to stay, are Farrukh Sair from Pakistan and Anthony Bryan from Jamaica. Seen at intervals throughout the film, all these people come across as deeply sympathetic while the paperwork involved in the costly applications required by the government seem utterly inhumane.

These individual threads are intertwined not only with the historical flashbacks but with comments from MPs, campaigners, historians and others including Nitin Sawhney who composed most of the music for the film. Its scope is such that it takes in issues regarding racism, refugees and Brexit and it is never less than impassioned. It is, of course, the kind of material that some people would like to dismiss as agitprop and at times it does contain views that will certainly not help to change opinions (for example, all references to the British Empire are of a hostile kind). But, if the film can sometimes be challenged in that respect, there is never any doubt that this is a work of great humanity which rightly shames those of us who are citizens of the UK.  Although the present government comes out of it badly, the film is not so politically one-sided that it does not criticise earlier legislation by other governments including Labour ones. Nevertheless, in the light of her own background, the film is particularly outraged by the actions of Priti Patel.

The film’s title is drawn from the hostile environment policies set up by Theresa May as Home Secretary but, while the focus is principally on Britain's cruel treatment of migrants, it expands at its close to ponder restrictions on protests, the use of political power against the people and the extent to which Britain is moving towards becoming an authoritarian state. As a view of this country today, Hostile is properly disturbing, but above all else Sonita Gale has given us a deeply human document.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Featuring  Farrukh Sair, Saba Sair, Daksha Varsani, Paresh Jethwa, Elyas Ismail, Anthony Bryan, Janet McKay-Williams, Stephen Timms, Zarah Sultana, Dave Carr, Maya Goodfellow, Nitin Sawhney, Michael Bankole, Patrick Vernon, Brad Evans, Gargi Bhattacharyya, Jeevun Sandher, Paulette Wilson, Akram Salhab.

Dir Sonita Gale, Pro Sonita Gale, Screenplay Sonata Gale, Ph Neil Harvey, Ed Alex Fry, Music Nitin Sawhney and Ayanna Witter-Johnson.

Galeforce Films-Galeforce Films.
97 mins. UK. 2021. UK Rel: 21 January 2022. Cert. 12A.