Pressure (1976) – Nostalgia Central

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The first British feature film made by a black director (Horace Ové), Pressure, was produced for the BBC in 1974 and premiered at the 1975 London Film Festival. Despite being extremely successful at film festivals abroad and winning many awards, it was not released theatrically in Britain until February 1978 due to a three-year ban.

Filmed with minimal financial backing in grainy 16mm in a drama-documentary style, this account of West Indian experiences of Britain in the 1970s begins as an even-handed study and gradually takes sides – with good reason.

English-born black youth Tony Walsh (Herbert Norville) is the apple of his parents’ eye.

They had arrived in England with Tony’s older brother Colin (Oscar James) as a “Windrush Generation” immigrant family in the 1950s, expecting to find the Promised Land of their dreams. What they found was quite different.

Lucas (Frank Singuineau), the father, had been an accountant at home but had to settle for running a small grocery shop in Ladbroke Grove, while his wife Bopsie (Lucita Lijertwood) had no choice but to work as a cleaner for white employers who exploited her for a minimum wage.

Tony’s birth brought new hope to his parents. For him, it would be all different . . . he was born in England. This was his real home, and all doors would be open to him. He was their insurance for the future.

Frustratingly, Tony can’t find a job despite his earnest efforts and respectable educational qualifications. He is subject to numerous prejudices and privations, and – following months of frustration – he gradually turns more radical, particularly after encountering police harassment against his militant older brother, who is a member of the Black Power movement.

He eventually takes a menial job as a porter in a hospital and succumbs to Colin’s constant badgering to attend a Black Power meeting to welcome a beautiful American, Sister Louise (Sheila Scott-Wilkinson).

The peaceful meeting is raided, and a near-riot breaks out, finally quelled by the police with a deplorable degree of savage violence in a vicious scene, which was the primary cause of the three-year ban on showing the film in the UK.

The film ends with Tony leaving home for good and finding shelter with Sister Louise. But there, too, he fails to fit in. The other members of the Black Power movement are older immigrants from the Caribbean who can all dream of returning home someday if the pressures become too strong. But for Tony, no such refuge exists.

He was born in England and this is his home. For him, pressure is a fact of life and inescapable.

Some of the incidents depicting racism have become something of a cliché half a century later and often seem over-literal and forced. The script frequently turns to lengthy sermonising and preachy speech-making, but Anglo-Trinidadian director Ové – who died in 2023 – obviously wanted to address specific issues and did so with skill and intelligence despite a lack of financial support for the film (necessitating the casting of many non-actors).

Directors like Mike Leigh were celebrated in the 80s and 90s for their gritty portrayal of working-class life. Ové did it first and, unfortunately, never received the deserved recognition for it.

Tony Walsh
Herbert Norville
Colin Walsh
Oscar James
Lucas Walsh
Frank Singuineau
Bopsie Walsh
Lucita Lijertwood
Sister Lousie
Sheila Scott-Wilkinson
Police Inspector
Ed Devereaux
Junior
T-Bone Wilson
Brother John
Ram John Holder
Preacher
Norman Beaton
Mr Crapson
John F. Landry
Oscar
Archie Pool
Reefer
Whitty Vialva Forde
Marlene
Marlene Davis
Mike
Dave Kinoshi
Winston
Patrick Rennison
Joe
Elvis Payne
Jacko
Winston Williams
Dave
Ray Burdis
Pete
Peter Newby
John
John Blundell
Angie
Dawn Gerron
Sheila
June Page
Landlady
Margaret Ford
Metal Factory Manager
Brendan Donnison
2nd CID Officer
Philip Jackson
Dog Handler
Trevor Hilton
Secretary
Sally Carey
Commissionaire
John Lynn
Tony’s Aunt
Corinne Skinner-Carter
Woman in Train
Thelma Kidger
Black Man in Train
Alfred Fagon
Radio DJ
Tommy Vance