Reels & Riddims
Welcome to Reels & Riddims!
Mikelah and Kerry-Ann, two friends and culture enthusiasts, give their eclectic mix of commentary and reviews in world of TV, Film, and Concerts. From dissecting storylines in TV and film that feature Caribbean characters, to the irresistible 'riddims' of the concerts, Reels and Riddims got you covered.
Reels & Riddims
Three Little Birds: The Journey of Jamaican Women in 1950s Britain
We discuss the emotional complexity and the heavy choices faced by these women in pursuit of a better future for their loved ones, all while navigating the cultural dynamics of family, both left behind and newly formed in foreign lands.
We invite you to join us in this exploration of a Jamaican-British tale that speaks to the heart of the immigrant experience. It's a celebration of the strength and sacrifice that is woven into the fabric of diaspora communities around the world.
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A Breadfruit Media Production
Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Reels and Rhythms, a podcast by Cari on Friends, in partnership with the Style and the Vibes and Breadfruit Media, and my co-hostess with the mostess is none other than Mikala. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:Nobody call me with Siri call me.
Speaker 1:So inside joke, guys, whenever I say hey, siri, call Mikala, it says calling Mikala Rose. Your Siri start answer. I'm not talking to you, siri. No, do not call anybody, sorry. Clearly this episode is off to a wonderful start.
Speaker 2:I'm your problem today. So welcome back. Guys always excited to talk to you. Cari, you know we are going with things by little podcast. Yeah, yes, we are collecting things to talk about and we would be remiss if we didn't include three little birds. Three little birds is a British mini series, drama mini series written by Sir Lenny Henry, which was inspired by his mom and the Windrush generation that came to Great Britain from Jamaica and the wider West Indies in the 1950s. So that's really the overview and it's of three women that came from Jamaica to England and the series essentially starts with them getting on a boat and we followed them to England and we learn about their characters, who they are as people as well as collectively who they are, how they built community and what it was like during that time. So what were your overall general thoughts? Well, I'll get to some key pieces in there, but overall, did you like it and what are the main? Why and why not?
Speaker 1:I liked it. It was an entertaining series. It's definitely not champion. That brought the drama in every episode, but I loved it. There were some things that I wanted them to do I wish the series did, but overall I liked it.
Speaker 1:I thought about how we get this context and background for the UK, because it's so much easier to identify Britain tapping into its colonial assets and asking them to come over to help rebuild versus. What was that like for my grandfather, his brothers coming to the US? What would a story like that I couldn't help but think of. What is the American version of the story? What does that look like? And a lot of that. We can see that they landed in Florida for obvious reasons and also landing in Harlem for obvious reasons, and I couldn't help but think of what that story would look like from the American side. But overall I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it. There are some aspects of it that we're going to get into, obviously, but I enjoyed it. We have our Reels and Ritims ratings, so we'll get into where they stand in our ratings.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yeah, I really enjoyed it. I thought it was. I love a time period piece and especially because it's a time period that I did not live through I didn't hear a whole lot of stories about especially growing up here. The context is a little different, as you kind of alluded to as well, so I was really excited to see this storyline and really exploring it, because essentially, we don't know as much as our British Jamaican counterparts about this generation. So I think it's really a great diaspora piece to kind of get perspective and understanding and I love the era that it's kind of portraying and it really made me think about potentially, like you said, what would our grandparents would have went through during that timeframe. They do a good job of diving into it without really harping on all of the different racial aspects. There were some lighthearted moments that I really enjoyed about the entire series and it could have gone very dark, I think, but it didn't. So I think that that was interesting and I really do hope it gets picked up for another season or seasons because essentially you could really bring it up in terms of timeline, because I did really enjoy it overall. I did enjoy it All right.
Speaker 2:The opener was interesting to me and I wanted to stay on the opener. They spent some time in the first episode really setting it up and I like that they built in them getting on the boat and really what that experience was like for them and even the people who were like waving to them. I think that that was pretty significant piece of a story that we haven't seen. I've seen videos of stuff like that, like in black and white but like really bringing that, like it's in the morning, it's early, the boat is about to leave and they're like running onto the boat, not like Jack running on the boat in Titanic. But I think that that experience to see that and to see black people doing that I think it's something that I visually haven't had a colorful reference to. So it was pretty significant to start the entire series off that way.
Speaker 2:But it also captured the essence of the excitement, the anxiousness, them getting ready to be in the unknown and even on the boat where a little girl kind of loses her mom for a couple of minutes. I thought that that was interesting too that they showed, because these characters, leah in particular. She's getting on the boat without her kids and so it's a reflective moment for her because she at the time you weren't sure if she had kids or not. But you see her interaction with this young girl and we hear so many stories of kids being left behind and this one kind of showed the dynamic of a parent and the child together. She was almost looking at her like well, yeah, I do it in picnic. But just I was like that's strange. But what were your thoughts on the opening scene?
Speaker 1:I don't know if I have a thought on the opening scene. I think my biggest issue which is why I'm reserving I mean I enjoyed aspects of the series, I'm not gonna lie but I think the biggest miss for me in the series was I get Hosanna, which is why Hosanna probably is the character that I liked the most, because I get her story. I was still trying to figure out okay, I can see how Leah and Ashton can be related. I was trying to figure out how Chantrell come in and because of that I just couldn't connect. I mean, we get it, we know how it like Auntie, auntie, so-and-so, is not really Auntie, but because they're my big woman, they're my Auntie, so is Chantrell really a sister? Is there a foster home? I thought that was a missed opportunity. They just showed, and remember, in the opening scene, at one point it looked like all three of them walked past each other, like they didn't know each other at some point. It wasn't until they got to the landing on the boat and they were over the balcony where you're like, oh, they actually know each other. But at one point when they were walking on the dock on the Tagoa, it seemed like they walked past each other. So for me, that was like the first miss for me, which was these women.
Speaker 1:I get Hosanna, which is why I feel like her character to me had the most development, and Chantrell was just like this thing out here that I'm just trying to figure out. How does she really fit in? And I think that would have been an important part to kind of tell that story. They do a flashback, but it's still not clear what is this relation? And by anchoring that relation we understand why Ashton Leah, they didn't even lay out good, oh, the tree, liquor birds Be like. Ok, leah got church, but you understand.
Speaker 1:So I think that was what was missing for me. I get that they're friends, but it seemed like that friendship developed over the journey to the UK as opposed to really giving us some kind of a better history or background of their friendship. So for me, the whole time I was like, ok, chantrell, are they sister? But is she really the sister? Or what? Is she a cousin? And people might say why is that important? It is in the dynamic. To me it felt like she was just the person, the actress that they were able to find for this role. So I don't know if it's her fear that was throwing me off, but she's a white-passing-looking woman, so that's why I'm just like, wait, am I supposed to look past her color and just focus on her character? And that is hard to do, especially the context of when the film took place.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure. I honestly thought that they were going to play on that a little bit more and you see nuances of it. I didn't really understand that they were actually blood-related of some sort until they got off the boat.
Speaker 1:So essentially, it's not no, they have the same last name, but it doesn't mean that they're blood-related.
Speaker 2:Well, they're family essentially because Leah calls her her little sister and, as they talked about it, they're like because, going back to them being on the boat, they spent some time together. They were all roomed in the same room so in the flashes they were together in essence. So my assumption was that they were all friends. But it didn't go over my head that Leah called Chantrel's sister and not Hosanna, so I kind of made assumptions and connected dots and they do allude to them being sisters of some sort. But to your point, it could be cousins, like really close cousins. It could be a half-sister, like for real. But as in really was like this is my little sister. So that's what really made me understand that, oh, like that. But it didn't really surprise me. It just kind of was a nod to the mix-upness we know about both families and how they come together. I don't know if that's also a story that I think that they could explore in a future season.
Speaker 2:Additionally, she came and she was a worker at a home.
Speaker 2:She worked with a family and the other two went to work in a factory.
Speaker 2:So you saw instances of where the fairness of her skin gave her a little bit more of an edge over Leah, her sister, and Jose and her friend, because she was able to work into the house, she was able to even go to an audition, she was able to walk around and nobody kind of really looked at her in any way.
Speaker 2:She was able to make friends with the young white gentleman that she was talking to towards the end of the series and even in terms of her being a little bit more accepted by the community you clearly saw that discourse there, because even when they arrived at what did people name them Wontage? When they arrived at the Wontage family home they were kind of looking at the brother and the sister they need to get off my property now type of deal, which the dynamic of her being fairer skin or lighter skin was apparent from very early. But she definitely had a different trajectory and she thought her life was going to be a little bit different than she had pictured and it ended up being truly horrific for her and her experience with that family. So you mentioned that Hosanna is your favorite character. Why is that?
Speaker 1:Because everybody knew about Hosanna.
Speaker 1:What I loved about her was it's easy to say that, oh, you know, like Ashden said, oh you get me a nice decent young lady and not this Bible totin something.
Speaker 1:And it turned out Hosanna was that, but as Anna, at first glance she could be that, but as you saw her development, which I felt like her development was more she's a nurse, she did all of these other things and her relationship with her father is really how she was judging or how she was evaluating a mate, only to find out that this idea of her dad is not perfect and that was shattered. But I think I saw Hosanna kind of blossom versus, you know, the development of Leah and Chantrel really didn't, because it felt like they came in somewhat developed and so with Hosanna, I think she had like when, when they have the host party, I mean other than the fact that Leah and Chantrel she were Harry Belafonte Pichas, a southern brother, you know, outside of that, but she was able to believe that because of Chantrel's complexion, right, there was no way she could show, because what you see, what you see, aston, for the first time, aston, no, look, you're like, when did you take this picture?
Speaker 2:But that's another thing. Like it portrayed how easy it was to kind of go on, go on. That is the.
Speaker 1:I have a theory. That is the trick. I don't believe that Hosanna truly believed that was their brother. That was her way of getting to England so she could find her father.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but at the time, like it wasn't necessarily revealed that she was looking for her father at that point in time, Right, but to me I immediately made that I'm like, oh well, she's showing that, why, she must believe, she must believe, said the brother looked something like one of the two of them, so I thought that that was so. That was one of the funniest moments, I think the fact that the sisters showed Hosanna, mary, bella Fante's picture and she had the picture and she's like, oh well, she's like, oh well, she's like, oh well, when I went into this picture, I'm not laughing, I'm not laughing, melafonte. So like it was moments like that that like literally made me laugh out loud. I don't know if I have a favorite character though.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I loved Hosanna when she outside at the party. We have the Bible and the telepore.
Speaker 1:The Bible I love that you know like you see that right, you know. So I liked her character the most, not because I identify, but because I felt it was the one character that I saw how it developed and it unfolded the arc. You know, all through the six episodes I think there were some predictable things. Did I expect where it was going with Ashton? I think Ashton character development was the other one that surprised me in a way, because you know, in some parts you're like Ashton, you know Barra from Pita for Pia Pahl and we just kind of knew where that was going to end up.
Speaker 1:But the scene where you saw him delivering the money to this, to go to the white woman door and delivering the money, I would not think that there was the child involved, yes, and so seeing that development was like, oh okay, like I said, for me Leah Leah was just like developed at the very beginning and I don't know if it changed. She was, you saw her young and you understood like why you know she decided to sacrifice herself and they would e-frame, so e-frame wouldn't take set off a chantrel, right. But her character was just really strong from the beginning and I don't know if I saw much more development in that after other than when she dumped them, bernadette, but we didn't know, so she could have do it anyway, like you know.
Speaker 2:I said she didn't deserve it. Still enough, Bernadette. We all know how, Bernadette. So what I liked about Hosanna too is, you know, and even for a lot of them, we got to experience their firsts with them in the country, First party inside. They, you know, got to where they were staying. They were utterly shocked, Cause the comparison to where they're coming from, to what their expectations are, were completely disconnected and, to be honest, that was my experience moving from Jamaica to America too.
Speaker 1:You know what I thought versus no, obviously not what they got, but you have a picture in your mind and you have an experience that you expect in your mind versus when you come to America, and I think a lot of immigrants might have a similar experience. You know, like I mean never to expect this. At the time when I came to Brooklyn, I grew up watching the Cosby show. You know, I knew they were in Brooklyn. That was my point of reference and I'm thinking, oh, this is what Brooklyn is going to be. Right, it didn't.
Speaker 1:It didn't turn out to be that and it's not necessarily bad, but it's like what we are told about life abroad and how better it is. We then create this, you know, this vision of what it is, and when them just not connect, them, just pass each other, what we see. That also sets up a disappointment that I don't know if it goes away as the stay continue. As you heard, hosanna said, like you know, you said when I'm ready I could go, because you're kind of counting the cost as you go along in the immigrant experience.
Speaker 2:I think adding to that experience was the, the letters that Aston would send home to really share In my mind. He wrote down what he thought would entice her to come because he didn't want to be alone. In essence, he knew she was in trouble but at the same time he was probably missing that familiarity and in order to get her to England he had to portray it in the most positive light. And then when she got there, she was kind of like, why didn't you tell me how bad it was? He's like, cause I knew you wouldn't come if you knew how bad it was. So I wonder, like how much of that actually happened and how much the idea of opportunity and leaving familiar and leaving home for this major opportunity, like in my mind I'm like, well, what made people stick it out? You know what I mean, like I know. But again, you know you start to form community and you start to see the positives and you do a self-evaluation.
Speaker 2:And I've asked my mom this multiple times. You know her and my dad separated and I'm like, well, why didn't you just go back home? So you know, those are questions that I think we never really think to ask. And she was just. I think he was just lonely and he wanted her to be with him. And then you know, sean Trout, she had her own dreams of becoming a movie star. That was like a big dream, right, whereas Leah's dream was a little bit more accessible in the sense that she probably just wanted to work, save enough money to send for her kids. And she gets here and she probably realizes when they get their you know, their pay for the week, they're like this is not going to do anything Like how am I going to even really make this work? But it seems like a lot of people in the series they ran to England to solve a problem or get away from a problem and it ended up causing more problems.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's kind of why I said that you know it is the first taste of Unmet expectations. Most immigrants at the time you know I can't speak for now might have right. It's like this is supposed to be a better way of life, but it doesn't feel that way and it typically doesn't feel that way for a very long time. And to your point where you ask your mother so why you don't go back because You've spent so much time away. That is like, does it even make sense? And then this idea of going back is an appearance of failure. You know, I'm not saying in the case of your mom, but you know there's a perception to those who you know, based in the film, to those who Stay back, you know you, they are firing, you have big stuff, you know, and to to portray anything other than that. That's why Burna get, get Tomp, don't, because she got top of toe. I'm Leah, put in them, don't get hungry, right, and she appear a lie and the fornicate you know that's I should get the old pocket. So so you know, like those, those aspects of the immigrant experience you, you just see and you're just like this makes sense Because it's, it's a shared experience, maybe experienced in like different locations, but it's definitely a shared experience and and and you could see, yes, like you said, it could have gone very dark, but I'm glad it didn't because I Hear and I'm very aware of some of the experiences people had and I don't necessarily want it.
Speaker 1:I didn't want to watch that on film. I didn't need to see or relive that through the stories of other people who who tell of what it was like when they first went to England or even when it first came to the US or whatever, because those are traumatic experiences, experiences oftentimes of sexual assault and and all of these things. As Chantrell went through Montec off the war off, I'm like, yeah, like I was, I was stressed, I was, I was mad watching, I used to my mohpush old, like I was, I Couldn't take it and so when I saw the article that you said, where it said it was a sanitized version, I'm sure it was, but I also didn't need to see an unsanitized version of those experiences. It is traumatic to watch, knowing that this is a visual representation of what my grandmother's friends or other families and people went through In that time period. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:I also think you mentioned the article. I also think that that time period Leah reminds me of a lot of people I know and encounter, even in my own family, who are people a few words Right. So it wasn't surprising that Leah's character didn't really develop. She was so tight-lipped and that was so true of so many people that I've come encountered with like they just brush past things or they accept what is and kind of just move on without the need to Focus and talk about it and go through it. And you know we, we are the generation of words. You know we want to chat the things that Montaqui told, but I feel like that that generation just did it. Necessarily they could identify, but they're not necessarily going to outwardly express all of their Needs and wants without action.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna challenge that. I don't think Leah was a few words, I think Leah was just the boss. It's clear she had a boss. She'll fix everything for everybody and because of that she doesn't really Get to or need to talk about her problems because she's focusing on other people's problems and that, I agree, is by choice, right. If she is the one addressing and fixing people problem, then you don't have to focus on my team because me go fix my team and I don't need to be vulnerable and tell you my thing. So there's two things she don't want to be vulnerable and that's why she's. You know she tightly, but you know tightly because she know one chart she in everybody business I fix everything. You know she did it.
Speaker 2:Put on back a wedding pan track, she did but that's, but that's also the complex right, yeah she's doing work to almost forget about her own issues and she wants to be close to everyone to help them and she understands their stories. But she's not really willing to share, like, what she's feeling, what she's going through. She doesn't want people talking about her business either because again, she had multiple opportunities to really talk about. You know her feelings, even with with Shelton. Like I'm like why did she confess to Shelton early, especially with she know a Bernadette and she know a Bernadette mode. So she know all the sistae and how people back home know and talk to this one Like I read her out when she talked about, like just where she came from. So to me you know like she. She was tight-lipped. In that sense she's not tight-lipped or she doesn't. She's a woman. A few words, but only when it comes to herself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, and that's also part of that experience, right, like she was tight-lipped because she didn't want to be judged, she valued herself as a mom. You know, I certainly understood what that is to have your child and you know, you know, you know, you say, oh, your child is at mommy and you're, you feel like I'm, you know, a bad person to not have your child with you. So she's dealing with those things as a mom, that this idea she run gone, left the pit of them, like she didn't even properly tell them where she went. Right. So that is given space to mothers, immigrant moms, who often leave their kids behind and come America and then, you know, at the end of the series she pregnant, you know so. So again, I remember the play that you know highlighted this.
Speaker 1:I this certain wasn't my experience. My mother did the opposite. My mother come a far in and bring all of her kids one time. So you know this idea of Leaving your kids, building a life, and while your kids are down there, you now create a new life and, you know, have this other child on the way and in some people's Experience a child is already born. So this creates this issue with the family leave with the kids because at the end one child said Even I'll come him good and and pandemic ticket. My mom said I'm here.
Speaker 2:All right. All right, let's let's talk about shocking moments Before you get into it. What were, what were, some of the shocking moments? You've mentioned a few from the series. What were your shocking moments?
Speaker 1:Um, I don't think anything was shocking like oh my gosh, I didn't see that coming. But I think there were definitely standout moments and I think the level of gas lighting that happened to Chantrelle was just like a lot. You know, the man getting police friend to make it seem like the last Nani get lock up, like that whole thing. Then I get run down and beat up by this white mob, like that was a lot. The, the intensity was was a lot and it was just like okay, I think if any moment was shocking to me that I did not expect was Ashton Abapitni. That to me I didn't see coming. The other things somewhat kind of are predictable. But if I were to pick a shocking moment, that would have been Ashton and the Pitney. Everything else. You could say, okay, this went this way, but the kid no.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I, yeah, I didn't expect the kid. But then there was a scene in the pub where a black guy and a white woman walk in and and Hosanna said he'm really walking without white to my, and he says, well, you can't help who you love and you fall in love with, or whatever, whatever the line.
Speaker 1:That should have been the line that I've done. Did you know that same position?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, yeah, exactly. So that's why he was able to empathize with the gentleman and and the the woman that he was with, and then I Would have think that, based off of picking up on that same energy, because essentially that's what created that and caused the mob to kind of along with Leah kind of coming in and I try, stun up and change the music In the pub, but that was kind of like what is this black guy doing with this white woman in the pub in my face. It was after that, that, you know, they had this entire mob scene where they had to Leave and and kind of run around and hide. I didn't expect Shelton to come to Leah's rescue. I didn't honestly didn't think that they were going to Be romantically involved the way that they were.
Speaker 1:So that was a little I did, because the story is based on the man's life, and Did you read that it was also inspired by the Foxy? Later on in life he met his real father, so I expected it. I don't know why I read that it was inspired by his mom and apparently his mom had a relationship with this man when she first come out England. So mid-mid-mid-mid-mid-mid-id expected.
Speaker 2:I didn't read the back story. So, yes, that probably would it. So now that you're saying that, so Leah is essentially his mom. Yes, sir, let me mom. Yeah, okay, okay, I thought it was more of like a collection of of thoughts. I mean, it's a story.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I, I think it's like an amalgamation of other you know people's experience, but she, I believe, would be the inspiration for his mom, based on the back story that I read for the series, so I kind of knew where that was going.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um me, me well shock, say, if I'm right right up himself face step on myself and taking picnic ticket if it comes, see Leah.
Speaker 1:So oh, you think would have traveled with the two young picnic and penny playing, I mean from the CS. For you see the setup the two put them, come off at the plane them, ask where it's so-and-so, it never comes on. My next.
Speaker 2:I.
Speaker 1:That's what I'm saying. That would not have happened. You know, on a company. Minor is our mother and they take right. So in my head I was like so who bring the pit of them? This is, this is going to be. And then what I typically do this is my little cheat thing when I'm watching a series, I pause it. I'm like much left. All right, five minutes left, mm-hmm. I thought club suck on right. So that's how I, how I anticipate. So I kind of knew we were gonna be shocked with something at the end, because I'm like, okay, what's happening? And so so I wasn't, I wasn't totally shocked with.
Speaker 2:I was shocked by the pregnancy and then off comes e from like sir, sir, yeah, righty. But I also knew that something when her mom wrote her and said that E from is doing right by the kids, almost as if that was a signal. So in Essence, leah also wasn't, didn't share anything about her and Shelton to her mom either. So she's keeping Shelton a secret from, not only like the people around her Kind of know when they are, but she's keeping Shelton a secret and she's fully pregnant. At the end, like you never tell nobody say you're pregnant, neither like Leah. Come on, that is messy. Who shouldn't tell that? To never tell our mother?
Speaker 2:because I'm gonna say from yeah. So yeah.
Speaker 1:I didn't report back of our, like you said, her relationship because then, ifrim, come on, be like. Who is this? You understand?
Speaker 2:so, like at least you would know who eat, like ifram would know, because then he's going to get his woman and Defend it, but at the same time, like she's so, like he's coming in off-guard because he's expecting her to just be a worn out mom, tired of him.
Speaker 2:They're still married, they, they, they're separate in in geography, but in his mind he's like alright, mom on left me. Like. In his mind it could be that he felt like she left to get Him back in order, like he wasn't doing right by her. And to be honest, I don't know that there wasn't a romantic connection that that Leah and and ifram didn't have, because if you saw the, the, the scenes, he was basically flirting with both sisters to see which one it would bait and it kind of felt like he was interested in both of them. So I I'm not really buying the fact that she wanted to marry ifram, should push up our nose and push up our self, because Nothing more than I, she little jealous, our little sister, and she go get the man and then she don't like what she get and then she run, got England.
Speaker 1:I mean who would I like what she gets?
Speaker 2:I mean I know, but I'm just saying it doesn't look like it wasn't what she pictured. Right again at home she's in a relationship. It wasn't what she pictured. She gets to England. It wasn't what she pictured and she's making adjustments based on that. But to me ifram doesn't have the inclination that she have a whole life outside of her home life. You know what I mean. I was shocked when ifram came off the off the plate, for sure. And then the the extra BAB for Aston I, yeah, I did. I was like why does he keep going to this house and putting Something in the mailbox, like what is he doing? And at first I thought maybe he owed more money and he was just paying somebody off. And then I was like, well, maybe you know it's something related to that guy, but I was pretty shocked about that too.
Speaker 1:For Hosanna yeah, and I think.
Speaker 2:Wait a minute, wait a minute. We also didn't talk about who said his father.
Speaker 1:I was just about that's, that's where I was gonna go. That that's why I particularly like Hosanna's Storyline. Her storyline, I think, is the most developed of all of them, because you see the conflict, you see how that Impacts the rest of her life, you see that, yes, she's this Bible taught in whatever. And then you know like she come down to earth a little bit because in, in praising God in a way, she kind of she came to the realization and I, fraud out, had to tell her I'm not Jesus, you know, and that's kind of where she was like Ashton, blah, blah, blah. The part that I found the funniest in her storyline, when the first guy has got no, whoever ashton, borrow money from our Aston. And and in them start quote song of Solomon. And it's so like in my gear lyrics. I said hey, and then I was like this is from the song of Solomon. The song of Solomon is a love book, is like up here, I like.
Speaker 2:Like my girl. You know, no one said the man. I tried lyrics here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so just even when she got church and she had tried sing this song with a pep in our liquor step and and they're just looking like what is this? We believe this is not.
Speaker 1:No no, I'm not doing that. And then she raised up the money. I said you know, jesus said go ye into all the work. So I loved her character because you, you, you just saw that this was who she is, this, that you saw her Naive tae on display. You also saw that, in addition to some of that, she wasn't as naive as people thought she was. She's actually really smart and you know. But she had an agenda and I thought that was a surprising thing. This is what it felt like. Her character just kept giving like oh, yes, oh, oh, I'm secret.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm just saying that I do get that. Yeah, like oh yeah.
Speaker 1:And she's like, you know, she, oh yes, and she jump on, she had drive the car and till he, I said where are we going? We lost. And she's like, and then she, you know, the jig is up, you know she have to say where she going. But that's why I liked her character the best, because it just kept developing. It kept giving you things that weren't predictable, in a way.
Speaker 2:What are people at things when I find would just a map lad.
Speaker 1:Map reading isn't what it is. Yes, to be friends, but um what else, uh, hosanna's father? Isn't that sir Lenny who played the role? I believe it is.
Speaker 2:Let me check it is, thank you, mega fine it because, oh, it is yeah. Letting Henry as Ramil Drake, Jose and his father, yeah he.
Speaker 1:Let me put it on. Yeah, because I'm like his face, very familiar from his other projects, and I'm like from the first time they saw the church in Jamaica I was like I think that's him, but it didn't. Because it how they did the flashback, I was like maybe it's just me, but by the time they were in England it was very clear that it was him. The other thing I liked about it was this aspect of community and how, as West Indians, they built communities for survival wherever they went. And seeing that with the factory workers.
Speaker 1:And even I loved that the woman they rented the house from was called Mrs Biswas, and that's a nod to the house of Mr Biswas, which is a book by VS Nipah, the Trinidadian writer. So I thought that was a little Easter egg in there, like just all these different things, and I definitely don't want to speak to the trueness or the accuracy of it, whether it was actually true that they could live in a house with an Indian person and a white person renting rooms. I can't speak to whether that would have been accurate for that time, but you could see how it added color to their characters and how they lived and went about life, but also the folks that they did live within the house. You can also see elements of them being somewhat outcast of the main society itself, which is why they were all living under the same roof in the house.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think we saw a few moments of white brits and people of different backgrounds supporting the community right, like when Leah and Shelton were hiding out in someone else's shed for a little while, or like in their basement area and she didn't want to disturb them and she talked about how you know they had every right to be here and you know this shouldn't be happening. There's the pub owner who allows them to. It's not in their establishment and being in the same spaces at the same time because when Aston went to the Lone Shark that was all white in there and he had to. It was almost like doing this doomsday walk, going into this place and asking about. I hated that, I hated everything about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely. So they were able to nod to the racism that they experienced and there's probably a lot more, but they chose to focus on the three women and their experiences within their community. I liked that aspect so to the point of it being sanitized. I agree I was like I don't know, that I want to see all of that, and it's probably just because we've seen so much trauma play out on television and on screen and we really know that it exists. So they were able to capture the essence of all the things that happen, but by focusing on the community, it really is a testament to the resilience right, to the ability to make something out of nothing and really create a community that would be supportive of one another, because they have very similar goals and they have similar backgrounds, and that's really how community is started and how communities really thrive. And to this day, I think that we benefit from communities that our grandparents and parents have built for us from an immigrant space.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean again, like I said, I'm not saying this is champion, but champion of this is just a different speed and we sometimes use good to have a different speed of a series. This was a little bit more mellow, there weren't too many dramatic like it was a drama everywhere you turned. You said you'd like to see a season two. What would you like to see in a season two?
Speaker 2:I would like to see what happened with E from and Leah and Shelton, because I thought claps for sure. And then not only that, like why did the? The sun stay back, right, and what? What is that about? You could develop the characters around just their, their, their family nucleus. Because now, what is he from going to do? Is he going to stay or is he going to go back to Jamaica? Because he, you know, he's coming with the intention of staying with Leah. So what happens now? Does Shelton get him a job at the same factory and them get our room, them share the same room, them in our host, the? What would it be? And then how does Hosanna and her dad and Ashton like Ashton and have a ring? Ashton just kept falling all over himself all the time.
Speaker 2:Like what if the daughter then Teefit daughter? No, I mean no, I mean no. But I'm just saying, like, what happens with the daughter, you know, him and Hosanna get married Really. And also what happens with Chantrell. Like she has this really close relationship with the other nanny. She is kind of in a in a shocking young place where she's just kind of falling back from a lot, but she still wants to have fun. So what does that look like If you think about it, like that whole entire community and how the kids grow up could be like part of to me.
Speaker 2:I mean, if you think about period pieces that we see on television Mad Men, the Wonder Years, like those are things where we see it was that one something, mrs Maisel, I haven't watched it, but it's on Amazon Like those are period pieces that have more than one season. So I think that there's the opportunity to kind of develop the characters a little bit more and really even going into their children and grandchildren and what today's life like, what if they got old? Like how Mandy Moore does get in. This is us. So I think there's still a lot of story that they could tell. But first and foremost, we want to know a while going with E from a shelter and Leah because that I want to reason we never asked.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all right. So, given that we talked about the music, you said you know initially how the music sounded, more Latin. And then we had a discussion. I said, well, the Calypso of the day sounded similar, and so I sent you. London is the place of me, do you hear it?
Speaker 2:So you hear how it was the horns is very similar and how if it's a MacKinnon musical catalog to really appreciate, like that opening song and I think it was a. It was a moment for me like I wasn't harping on it, but I'm like I need to go back and listen to like what music sounded like at that era in order to really assess what I'm hearing. But the offline conversation that we were having is it's also a testament to how similar the sounds were across inter islands. You know what I mean. So I think you know we talk a lot about our differences but there are so many cases of similarities between whether language, food, music that there's this DNA that we have kind of taken forward a bit and I thought that that was, that was an educational moment for me, which, which me, love me, love, learn and love music. So thank you, kerry.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, and that that also is a nod to strictly facts.
Speaker 1:a guide to Caribbean history and culture facts and the playlist yes, it was their playlist and we talked about how the music that was created as a result of the Windrush Revolution so Lord Kitchener's, london is the place to me is was kind of you know, one of the calypso's that tell the story about this migration and, of course, miss Lou's colonization in reverse, which is my personal favorite, that we had to learn in school in Jamaica. So that was one thing. So it was the music. Was there anything else that we wanted to talk about? No, I think no, all right.
Speaker 1:So we talked about how we evaluate films. We talked about accent, we talked about as a criteria, we talked about character development and we talked about overall storyline, right, and so, in terms of accent, right, we said that if it's a small walk on role or brief role, the accent should be on point. If it's a bigger story, we could waver a little bit on the accent For the character. We said that it really should, you know, not only developed into, like beyond these tropes about Caribbean people, but really go deep and nuance into culture and the overall storyline should follow a similar path. So, when it comes to accents, overall, what is your rating for Three Little Birds?
Speaker 2:I would. So I want to take into consideration one. It's British English and where we evaluate. I remember saying we learned the Queens English, you know. So I think that there's that there are similarities in terms of tones, so I thought the accent was. It was fine for me, so I didn't really rate it.
Speaker 1:Listen, you gave it a four yeah. What? All right, yeah. And in terms of what me give it yeah. When you give it yeah. Literally gave it a 2.5.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:I gave it a 2.5. I mean, it wasn't remember. We said if other aspects of the three categories were fine, we would give the accent a bligh. But it was, it was all right, it wasn't it's.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I didn't think it was totally off and I also don't know what the the sound of of. Again, I don't have the context.
Speaker 1:It's not remember and this is what they just come from Jamaica to England.
Speaker 2:So at that time it was very they wanted to speak the Queen's English, so that wasn't the idea of having this twang and this accent. That sounded a little off. I felt like, for the time period for no, all right, but I would have to, I would have to check if you want to.
Speaker 1:No, I can tell you, miss Lou, miss Lou, miss Lou, is it when she wrote Jamaica colonization in reverse, the part is Racha Patua. It is like in a departure. So it's not like you know. They may not. And she, she makes, she makes fun of it.
Speaker 2:She's a poet and a writer, yeah, but again, she make. Yes, she makes fun of it, but, however, did people talk like that? Like I make fun of people that twang, but they still twang?
Speaker 1:Yes, but she said she also have a poem that says no liquor twang, right, so they will twang when it's ready, but they will talk to Patua. And I'm not saying again it's not perfect, it it's, it's, it's livable. But that is just my, my grief for it, because I was just like the only person that I felt like, yeah, all of them the accent was off, but we, we would live with it, like I'm just a hard greeter of it, like it's, it's doable. So Megita 2.5. What do you give the characters?
Speaker 2:Um, I would say three.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the same reading. I gave the characters, yeah, yeah, because I felt like there could have been, particularly with Chantel and Leah. All right and storyline.
Speaker 2:Storyline. I gave it a five, I'll give it a five. I gave it a 4.5.
Speaker 1:I like the storyline.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I gave it a 4.5.
Speaker 2:I think I gave it a 5.5.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so overall we we gave if I averaged out the score we gave this film. Yeah, my excel sheets, of course, may have my excel sheets, of course. That's already. Of course it gets a 3.6 out of five rounded up to maybe a four. So, yeah, that's the, that's the score and that's generally how I felt like, yeah, it worked, I liked it yes.
Speaker 2:I liked it. I liked it. So if you guys have not watched Three Little Birds, please go ahead and do so. Support our stories, even if they're coming across the pond. I love, I love being able to to watch all of it and talk to Carrie about it, so make sure you guys watch it. It's available. I watched it on this app called Brit Box through Amazon, so you guys can. If you have Amazon Prime or if you want to download Brit Box, you can do that. Again, it's Three Little Birds available through Brit Box, and make sure you guys come back in. If you haven't watched it, watch it and let us know what your thoughts are. Carrie, any last words.
Speaker 1:No, I really think you should watch it, and what I love is that we now have variety to say OK, we're watching this, we're watching this, and I think it's a welcomed variety to you know all the other content that's out there and you'll enjoy it. I believe you will enjoy it. It's a nice welcomed pace for content. So I agree, agreed, all right, and so all right. Walk good later. Look at more of these things.
Speaker 2:All the things and bye, bye.
