These protest-laden times couldn\u2019t be more receptive to the stirring \u201cEverybody to Kenmure Street,\u201d which speaks to a moment when the machinery of institutional cruelty was ground to a halt by righteous neighborliness. Felipe Bustos Sierra\u2019s immersive documentary about a consequential block party \u2014 one that happened in Glasgow, Scotland, in May 2021 \u2014 is not simply one of the year\u2019s best films, but a potent reminder of where meaningful change begins.<\/p>\n
On the morning in question, a dawn immigration raid initiated by the U.K. Home Office snatched two men from the diverse, tight-knit community of Kenmure Street, and the timing couldn\u2019t have been more hostile: in front of a mosque on the first day of Eid. And yet, what reaction is more gratifying than residents of all stripes stepping outside to do something about it?<\/p>\n
Word spread quickly, and soon a throng of smartphone-wielding citizens had surrounded the immigration enforcement van, which couldn\u2019t move because one enterprising, early-arriving activist had slid underneath it. Soon, the police were there in force, but the dedication of the outraged, chanting crowd demanding the men\u2019s release ensured this would be no ordinary standoff.<\/p>\n
Sierra, a Scotland-based filmmaker born to Chilean exiles, whose previous film recounted the solidarity of Scottish factory workers against Chile\u2019s dictatorship, primes us over the credits with an archival montage of his adopted country\u2019s disputatious lineage, from suffragists and trade unionists to independence campaigners and Glaswegian schoolgirls advocating for their asylum-seeking classmates, all set to the serenading lilt of Lee Hazlewood\u2019s classic 1966 ache \u201cYour Sweet Love.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the tale of that Thursday\u2019s spontaneous, viral resistance is narrated by its proud participants. Each is interviewed separately, looking directly at us to burnish the intimacy. We aren\u2019t told their names \u2014 save human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar, a key public figure that day \u2014 because it isn\u2019t the point. Everyone\u2019s observant, humor-filled testimony both individuates and connects them to each other. Over those hours, the many became one. They became witnesses unsatisfied with mere witnessing.<\/p>\n
The interviewees who didn\u2019t want to be filmed are played by actors, including executive producer Emma Thompson wedged between an undercarriage and pavement as the unidentified van protester. That this doesn\u2019t play like jokey stunt casting speaks to the spirit of communal, all-hands-on-deck engagement. Who got under the van wasn\u2019t important. That someone did was.<\/p>\n
Sierra also contextualizes Kenmure Street within the long shadow of slavery, industry, imperialism and grassroots opposition. It\u2019s a valuable history lesson in echoes and dignity, one of the film\u2019s more moving illustrations of the legacy of demonstrating for what\u2019s right.<\/p>\n
As it happens, Sierra himself wasn\u2019t there that day. He chose to stay at home, watch on the news, and \u2014 as someone here might, post-Minnesota \u2014 assume the worst. \u201cEverybody to Kenmure Street\u201d is the ultimate what-did-I-miss movie, a life-affirming corrective, his respectful curiosity and everyone\u2019s cherished memories in singular harmony. Like Sierra, you\u2019ll wish you\u2019d been there, to experience the world made better by those who show up. This is the next best thing.<\/p>\n
‘Everybody to Kenmure Street’<\/p>\n
In English, Urdu and Punjabi, with subtitles<\/p>\n
Not rated<\/p>\n
Running time: 1 hour, 38 minutes<\/p>\n
Playing: Opens Friday, Oct. 2 at Laemmle Royal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"These protest-laden times couldn\u2019t be more receptive to the stirring \u201cEverybody to Kenmure Street,\u201d which speaks to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":913798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[144301,64,63,30330,481545,134,294710,481541,396775,481544,1695,481540,11554,344,228,481542,98029,115837,481543],"class_list":["post-913797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-activist","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-chile","tag-disputatious-lineage","tag-entertainment","tag-first-day","tag-good-film","tag-imperialism","tag-independence-campaigner","tag-industry","tag-kenmure-street","tag-man","tag-movies","tag-review","tag-scottish-factory-worker","tag-sierra","tag-solidarity","tag-trade-unionist"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=913797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/913798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=913797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=913797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=913797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}