British actor, Idris Elba, famed for “The Wire” and “Luther,” made his directorial debut for “Yardie”, a crime drama he says will offer young people a “perspective” on violence at a time when London is suffering from a surge in knife crime.
Based on the novel by Victor Headley, the film follows the story of wannabe gangster Dennis (Aml Ameen), a young Jamaican who arrives in London in the 1980s. After coming across the man who, a decade earlier, killed his brother in Jamaica, Dennis soon sets out on a bloody quest for justice.
When Elba came across the book, it made an impact.
“I don’t like reading books very often and this is one I read cover to cover and was like ‘Wow!’ It was a descriptive, very violent, very visceral novel about a person that I don’t know but could’ve known,” Elba said in an interview with The Independent.
The film will be released in UK cinemas this Friday and comes after London’s murder rate overtook that of New York for the first time earlier this year.
While the film shows plenty of guns, drugs and violence in the film, the other two important themes are love and redemption. As Elba puts it, it’s more than just a gangster film; it’s a love story.
By: Maytinee Kramer
