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Sunday 21 August 2011

Kidulthood (2006) - Menaj Huda


Kidulthood is a raw, sleek and girtty portrail of 24 hours in the life of a group of youths growing up in a urban area of London. The plot primarily follows two perticular people Trife (Played by Aml Ameen) and Alisa (Played by Red Madrell) after being given a day of school after a suicide rocks their school. The 24 hours we see involves a bit of everything you'd expect in the down to earth drama, violence, drugs, booze, sex and stealing.

Whilst many critics have condemned this film to being just an over the top and bleak i think Hudas depiction of Urban life is fairly on the dot, of course the film crams in it into 24 hours and its fair to say that perhaps the goings on in the film could not happen such a short span, but unfortunately its possible and it happens the thats the way our country operates in some of the poverty stricken boroughs of London and the sad reality for our youths portrayed brilliantly by the cast.

The documentary style camera work in this film is something to be applaued, the style in which Huda has filmed Kidulthood give it an extra sense of raw realism and immediacy, this coupled with the dialouge in the film (Heads up Americans and anyone not from the United Kingdom, you're going to struggle with some of te slang, although it'll be a real eye opener for you!) makes for a great peice of cinema.

My last bit of praise for the film goes too its Soundtrack, the cutting-edge hip-hop and grime tracks from Dizzee Rascal and The Streets really add that bit of spice and feeling to certain scenes, especially the suicide scene at the beginning the music coupled with the way the scene had been played out/filmed really had me gripped.

Whilst perhaps this film can be said to be over the top at times, i cant really knock it, i thoroughly enjoyed watching and it even though at times i felt uncomfortable watching some of the scenes, but thats what Huda was going for when he made the film. He set out to make a raw and gritty drama about the life of youths in our poverty stricken areas that made us open our eyes, and thats certinarly what he did.

Overall Grade: B+

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