Andrew “Rapman” Onwubolu’s debut film Blue Story is at the centre of controversy.
The film tells the story of a gang war of two rival neighbourhoods in south London. It focuses on two characters, Timmy (Stephen Odubola) and Marco (Michael Ward), who were best friends in school but joined rival gangs causing them to be fighting against each other.
The release comes at a time where knife crime in London is at an all time high with the majority of these attacks being in and around the areas the film is set.
This year alone 23 teenagers have been killed because of knife crime in London.
Vue Cinemas have reported 25 incidents happening in their premise’s nationwide related to the film. The main incident being a brawl in Brimingham which left seven police officers injured and five teenagers arrested.
This has led to Vue banning Blue Story from being shown in any of their cinemas.
However, Rapman told the BBC “”They were just in a cinema apparently for Frozen [2], but then they pinned it on Blue Story”. He feels there are “hidden reasons” behind the ban that Vue have failed to comment on. Rapman feels Vue are missing what the film is really about and the ban is racially motivated against urban youth in the UK.
Blue Story opened third in the UK box office and I’m sure it will still succeed even with this ban is in place.
Film By Euan 