Babylon

This was a film of it's time, I am one of the lucky ones who saw it when it premiered the one and only time on Channel 4 back when it was a new station. It features great performances by most of the cast and outstanding ones from Brinsley Forde, Karl Howman & Trevor Laird. The soundtrack to the movie is excellent and also brings back some fond memories of what life was like back in that time. People not from the UK or who are not familiar with Brixton get a real eye opener about what life for black youths, but black young men in particular was like. The deprivation, the listlessness and the treatment by the police, treatment that led ultimately to the riots in ensuing years

I cannot understand why this film wasn't released on DVD, the 25th anniversary 2 years ago would seem to have been a great opportunity. Perhaps we need a petition on the .gov.uk site to implore the powers that be to set and keep the date for release!!!

Perhaps we should arrange a big screening somewhere in the west end. I highly recommend this film. Definitely one for the collection.

Saw this film in 1983, had it on tape - but cant find it!! Now, over 20 years on, I still remember several scenes word 4 word, as me and my cousins acted it out, especially Beefy's scene at the end - entering dance hall with big machete tucked down his tight red tracksuit while everyone was bubbling to "Warrior Charge". And yes Karl Howman (from Flash ads) is wickedly funny with his accent "Cho man we dealing pure wickedness" Aaahhh Love it. The film is a masterpiece, don't know why I cant find it on DVD or VHS - if anyone knows where it can be obtained - Please let me know. Also looking for No Problem - UK comedy which starred Janet Kaye, Victor Romero Evans with Beastie and Tosh too!!

A nostalgic picture of imagery backed by the raw realism the style captures - 70s and 80's in LDN. It's hilarious, sad at times with a pendulum of the good and bad moments city life had to offer in the build up to the Brixton riots in 1981. Highlighting the divide between culture and colour. A moving picture that's a brilliant insight into the history. The language spoken IsIyaric (pseudo-dialect of English consciously created by members of the Rastafari movement) warms to your ears as the film progresses so no need for subtitles.

A lesson for anyone wanting to get a glimpse of racism in the UK. It's shows how two wrongs dont make a right, and the wheel of revenge goes round in circles with no true winners.

The music masterclass which always seams to be ticking over in the background, ever changing and adapted for dark moments in the film keeps you intrigued. That's is my favourite thing about it. It reminds us that we should all love eachother equally regardless, because we are all trying to make are way in this world and a little reggae heals the soul. A World class film that disserves more recognition in the modern day. 10/10 will stay fondly in the memory as a cult classic.

I was sat flicking through the TV channels last night and caught the opening scene of Babylon on BBC2. I couldn't believe it. I also couldn't understand how I'd forgotten about the film and why the DVD was missing from my collection.

Babylon is a classic film without equal. I was 14 in 1981 and going to blues with my older brother.

Dub, real classic heavy dub, was my sound track to the early 80's and Babylon was one of those films which summed up the experience of many black and white bwoy dem in a time before gangsta (c)rap corrupted everything.

Jamacian Patois with a slight cockney twang has been replaced by Jafaican. Collie weed and Blue Mountain Sensi replaced with skunk. Choparitas replaced with bling.

Babylon is a snapshot time capsule of a film and it should be cherished as such, without analysing it too much and it should only be compared on its own terms.

Been playing the soundtrack this morning and I've ordered the DVD to fill that gap in my collection. If you get the chance, watch the film.

Bim!

As an avid follower of British cinema, I like to think that I've seen most of the worthwhile films that our country has produced. But I'm always on the lookout for films that I haven't seen, but sound interesting, and so I stumbled upon Babylon, then tracked it down on DVD and gave it a watch.

Co-written by the writer of Quadrophenia, and directed by an Italian born director, and starring Brinsley Forde of Aswad, comedian Mel Smith, and Karl Howman, perhaps best known these days as the face of Flash household cleaning products, it seems an unlikely sort of project, which perhaps, not surprisingly due to its sensitive subject matter dealing with the institutionalised racism of late 1970's England, seemed to receive little attention when it was released.

This is a shame, as although not quite a classic film, the director, Franco Rosso, who sadly was unable to generate funding for any future film projects after making this film, shows that given time he could have been a significant voice in British Cinema. Babylon is a film made by a gifted director just finding his feet, with some memorable scenes littered throughout. It strikingly portrays working class London in the late 1970's as a pretty unforgiving environment, though, the drab atmosphere of the setting is frequently punctuated by tracks from the film's reggae soundtrack, bringing you into the characters' world as they seek solace from these surroundings in the reggae music they play through their cherished sound system.

Babylon should definitely have a place in anyone's top 100 British films of all time. For me It only narrowly falls short of classic status because the ending feels a tad abrupt, and the whole film does feel like it does not run quite as seamlessly as it should. Perhaps that's down to the editing maybe. Even so, I'd recommend it to anyone with an interest in British films.