We the Ragamuffin

Photo: Martin Slavin.

In the UK 30 years ago, there was a distinct lack of diverse voices within film and television. In 1992, We The Ragamuffin was released and aimed to bring marginalised voices to the forefront. The short film, based on the North Peckham estate and showcasing local talent and characters from the surrounding area, utilised improvised dialogue and musical interludes throughout to create a unique visual. The film described as “thoughtful and politically correct, refreshing and engaging” is a snapshot of time and has been viewed as his prelude to his 1998 film Babymother. For Fourth Floor, Nathan Tuft spoke with the film’s director, Julian Henriques, on the film's origins, process and legacy.

How did the film come about?

I had a photographer friend called Martin Slavin, who introduced me to a young man called Russell Newell, who was the co-writer and co-producer of the film. He lived on the North Peckham estate which was an area that he knew very well as he was born and bred there. So we teamed up and went out onto the estate to find out what issues they were facing and what they wanted a film - so it was very democratic in that sense. The theme ended up being gun violence so we set up workshops with musicians on the estate who ended up playing themselves within the film. A long-standing part of my filmmaking practices is to play to the strengths of the local community we were working with and music was a big part of the estate from the sound system and performance culture and this was supported by the musicians involved. So from there, we worked with them to think about a story that fit and we landed on a shooting in a dancehall which is a dramatic event but doesn’t stretch the bounds of reality within its context.

What do you think were the biggest barriers/challenges when creating the film?

At that time in the mid-80s, Channel 4 was encouraging a diversity of voices so we focused on the commissioner at that time, the late Alan Fountain who was comparatively open to independent filmmaking. At that point, we had a treatment with a story but there was no script as all the dialogue was going to be improvised. It was also my first fiction film and there wasn’t a tried and tested formula for this so it was certainly risky. We ended up getting a meeting with him so we turned up with a dozen of the crew and literally sat on his desk and asked when the check was coming. Luckily we were approved the budget which we then used to commence shooting.

Do you remember the film's initial reception and were you surprised by it in any way?

Something I think that we did get right was ensuring the film got premiered locally so we hired the Bouncing Ball on Peckham High Street and we showed the film there on a loop about 10 times. We wanted to show it to the community first and get the endorsement of the people who were involved in it. We take for granted the idea of black faces and black people on television and film but back then, it was significant. It also supported with understanding of a diverse range of voices. The deeper you drill into people’s lives, the more you find humanity and I believe it's through the so-called differences in people's lives, that you highlight more what we have in common, especially through the lens of expression which the music did so well.

The unique styling on the film is its breakout musical numbers which at times can shift the momentum throughout its half-hour runtime - how did that come about and what did you hope to achieve?

Reggae and sound systems have also been a big part of my life and in a way, I don’t see that music should be separated from life - music is life. It shouldn’t be a surprise that music and story go together, the surprise should be that they've never been separated! This way of expression is very powerful and through music and song, you can get to parts of the story that narrative alone can’t quite reach. Something like opera does it so well with the sense of the story of characterization, of narrative, but also actually moving us with the sound of the music so that has always attracted me. To get to the maximum intensities that the medium is capable of delivering, that has to involve not just the visuals, not just the dialogue, not just the story structure, but also the actual affective musical impact.

Over 30 years on, how relevant do you feel the film is to modern audiences?

A couple of years ago, the film was publicly screened at the Bussey Building in Peckham and it was a majority young white crowd. So it was interesting to see how they viewed it as for me, it was a present reality but for them. It was a past reality. Not just because of the music and the fashion, but the actual location. From this rooftop, you could see where the North Peckham estate had been. It was literally a periscope back into a past that literally no longer existed. When the film was made, it was pre austerity which essentially wrecked so much of what is valuable about this country in terms of opportunities, in terms of culture, in terms of living conditions. Things have not improved and the social and cultural conditions of life have deteriorated significantly.

However, what hasn’t changed is the form of music as expression but we now see it on a larger scale and more accepted. We have Grime which has made its journey from those margins to Stormzy headlining Glastonbury and I would say that Drill music is on exactly the same route. The musical creativity that was identified in We The Ragamuffin is still there but has been amplified to encompass a wider range of voices and is consumed by a bigger audience.

We The Ragamuffin is available to watch via the BFI Player.