Pressure

Although "problem pictures" such as Basil Dearden's Sapphire (1959) had touched upon the subject of being black and British, it had only been broached by well-meaning white liberals before Horace Ové's pioneering feature, which was the first to be released in this country by a black director. Ové focuses on the limited opportunities offered to young black men in the face of institutional and individual hostility. But he also explores the resentment exhibited by Herbert Norville's own family when he tries to conform. It would be easy to dismiss the film as dated were it not for the fact that little has actually changed.