“She’s not coming to take you away.” It’s a hollow promise. An 11-year-old Black boy is snatched away from his White foster mom. The life he knew ripped out from under him. It causes a bitterness that lasts well into his teenage years in this thoughtfully and emotionally charged coming-of-age drama.
Writer/director Shola Amoo’s semi-autobiographical portrait recaptures his experience as a foster child of African descent. Femi, the lead character, is his alter ego, as the film retraces the confusion the filmmaker felt living in two worlds and two different cultures. With anecdotes from others who have navigated through similar circumstances, Amoo immerses audiences in an angst-heavy metamorphosis that never divulges if the protagonist will ever acclimate.
Femi (Tai Golding) is a happy kid, living in the English countryside town of Lincolnshire with his foster parent Mary (Denise Black). He’s oblivious to the fact that all his friends are White and he’s the only Black kid for miles around. His happiness is tied to his friendships, Mary’s love and a very simple, sheltered life. With a great sense of betrayal, he is torn away from all he knows by his birth mother Yinka (Gbemisola Ikumelo) who abandoned him.
Life in South London is a far cry from the country. Angered as a child, beaten by his mom and acting out in school, Femi grows up to be a troubled adolescent (Sam Adewunmi). His refuge is his relationship with his mates Dean (Rasaq Kukoyi) and Tayo (Jayden Jean-Paul-Denis).
His peril involves local hustler Mace (Demmy Ladipo) and his muscular henchman Dwayne (Tuwaine Barrett) who attempt to lure Femi into thug life. His saviors may be his very nurturing teacher Mr. Williams (Nicholas Pinnock) and a new love interest Tope (Ruthxjiah Bellenea). Will he trudge into darkness? Or will he find his way?
That sense of not belonging is a common nightmare for foster or adopted kids. In Amoo’s enlightening screenplay, he takes that anxiety a step further by examining the consequences of a child experiencing a drastic change in location and culture. Friendly rural world one day. Tense urban low-income neighborhood the next. Looking like your new peers yet feeling like an alien. It’s enough to give anyone an identity crisis.
Amoo’s style of direction varies between realism and surreal moments. The mother’s emotional abuse, the fights at school and the seductive criminal life feel authentic. Playing with the voices, juxtaposing rural scenes and city ones and tinkering with the rocky pairing of English and African cultures takes the proceedings to a very contemporary place, one that has been observed recently in other timely films like “Blue Story.”
If there is one knock in this film, it’s that too often it makes White people loving and nurturing and Blacks hostile and uncaring. This is somewhat muted by the Mr. Williams and Tope, but still too much of the depiction of Black urban life is dismal and almost beyond redemption. Also, the Mace and Dwayne characters are shallowly written and cliché. They needed more of a backstory. More depth.
Timely themes, strong acting, insightful direction and beautiful footage tend to make up for an ending that feels more like a rationalization than a resolution.
Culture shock, abandonment issues and inner-city turmoil produce a PTSD that is rarely acknowledged in film in this way. For that, “The Last Tree” is a triumph.
“The Last Tree” opened on June 26 and is available to view on DVD, Blue ray and digital devices. For movie info, go to Facebook/ The Last Tree Film.
Dwight Brown is an NNPA News Wire Film critic. Find more of his work at DwightBrownInk.com and BlackPressUSA.com.
Dwight Brown is a film critic and travel writer. As a film critic, he regularly attends international film festivals including Cannes, Sundance, Toronto and the American Black Film Festival. Read more movie reviews by Brown at DwightBrownInk.com.