Pressure

Pressure is a 1975 British drama film and the first feature-length fiction film directed by a Black film-maker in Britain. Directed by Horace Ové, and co-written by him with Samuel Selvon, Pressure is a powerful portrait of inter-generational tensions between first- and second-generation West Indian migrants in London's Notting Hill area. According to Julia Toppin, "Pressure is a product of its time, but the issues and themes it explores remain relevant to the black experience in Britain today, including the cycle of educational deprivation, poverty, unemployment and antisocial behaviour. The depiction of police harassment and the controversial 'sus' laws is echoed by the similar, and equally controversial, 'Stop and Search' policy of today. The film also explores media under-reporting and misrepresenting of black issues and protests. ...Pressure remains a key Black British film, which helps to demonstrate how modern multi-cultural Britain was shaped." The film highlighted how the media intentionally twisted the way events unfolded and described events in ways that favored the whites, rather than explaining what truly occurred.