The BBC documentary collection Resistance in a Hostile Environment, from Oscar-winning filmmaker Sir Steve McQueen is now streaming on Showmax.
The omnibus includes Uprising, which won the 2022 BAFTA Award for Best Factual Series, and Black Power: A British Story of Resistance , which was nominated for a 2022 BAFTA for Specialist Factual. Both have 100% critics’ ratings on Rotten Tomatoes . The documentaries examine the systemic racial injustice that shaped what it meant to be Black in Britain from the late 1960s to the early 80s, and trace the real-life stories of resistance that inspired McQueen’s five-film anthology series Small Axe , which won BAFTA and Critics’ Choice awards among many, many others. As IndieWire puts it, “ Small Axe grew out of a desire to shed light on Black resistance movements in Britain... So, too, [do the] documentaries… which chronicle pivotal stories from recent British history largely ignored by media. Viewed collectively, the films make it clear that McQueen almost single-handedly aims to disrupt the preferred timeline with films that detail tumultuous crusades for change that cross bor