REview: Dear Babylon
Credit: Ayo Akinbade
By Erin Deborah
Police protests and housing estates. Real conversations about governmental action and the marginalisation of the working class. Director Ayo Akingbade throws us into constructed archival footage, while we learn of the passing of a fictional ‘AC30 Housing Bill,’ which would see them evicted for the reasons they live in this low-income housing itself. This is not Akingbade’s first successful film - the 26-year-old has written, produced and directed 12 short films, many also focusing on gentrification in Britain. The impact of Dear Babylon has particular weight in London’s East End; here, we meet a plethora of people living in Tower Hamlets. We discover the real lives this classist bill affects. The message is clear: people living in housing estates matter, the working class matters, the people of London matter.
Indeed, the film is based on fictional legislation, which is nonetheless remarkably realistic. However, rather than representing a sort of propaganda or persuasion, it serves more as way for those who would be most affected to candidly speak about their discontent and sense of ostracism, which exist in Britain in reality despite the fictional approach to this particular film. It represents a real ongoing issue – that is, governmental action which disfavours those living in housing estates - whilst simultaneously warning of the danger of governmental action, of which AC30 could be merely a single example. It is no surprise, then, that cinema is the chosen means of protest – the director herself has created successful films protesting the impact of gentrification, for instance in her piece Tower XYZ. Other examples of successful documentary-style protest films supporting social movements include Swedish filmmaker Goran Hugo Olssen’s Black Power Mixtape (2011) and Zed Nelson’s The Street (2019), discussing racism and social housing respectively. Whilst Akingbade’s film is no novel concept, it certainly adds a depth and personal take on the topic at hand.
Gritty, honest and personal, Dear Babylon explores the lives of those living in the same building as three ‘filmmakers’, Ada, Jazz and Rooney, played respectively by Donna Banya, Marla Kellard-Jones and Emmanuel Adeneye. While some of the acted- out scenes perhaps detract in part from the emotion of the documentary-style sections, the self-conscious decision to produce a film examining tangible social issues is expertly delivered. The cast performatively enact the filming process itself, with the female protagonists motivated by the challenge.
The true success of the short film is in its portrayal of these human testimonies. Telling ‘the grimy but beautiful tale of two cities,’ the residents express their own livelihoods, and their thoughts of the AC30 bill. As the protagonists elucidate, the aim is to ‘make them feel like their voices are being heard.’ Having been regularly ignored by the UK government, who often favour the expulsion of the working-class from Central London, the people are striking back. These people introduce themselves, name themselves even, in a true reclaiming of their voice. Their brutally honest stories, their individuality, and their bravery are powerful on-screen. Perhaps one of the most intriguing shots of the film is the final scene, where we zoom in to the protagonist, Ada’s, face. She smiles, giving a sense of hope, amidst the distress and chaos present throughout the film. We are, thus, provided with an overall desire to ponder the issues, yet we feel as though this film is a first step toward creating a better, more equal, future.
The documentary-like construction of real interviews with Londoners provides a realist depiction of the social fabric of the city, rendering the documentary even more indicative of reality, and illustrative of the real hardships these people face. The film is constructed with a sensitive self-awareness, becoming hard-hitting and relevant in our day and age.
