Rage (1999 film)
| Rage | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Newton Aduaka |
| Produced by | Newton Aduaka Maria-Elena L'Abbate |
| Written by | Newton Aduaka |
| Screenplay by | Newton Aduaka |
| Starring | |
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Production
company |
Granite FilmWorks
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| Distributed by | Metrodome Distribution Ltd |
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Release date
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Running time
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97 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Actor | Role | |
|---|---|---|
| Ayres, FraserFraser Ayres | , Jamie ("Rage")Jamie ("Rage") | |
| Parkes, ShaunShaun Parkes | , Godwin ("G")Godwin ("G") | |
| Pickard, JohnJohn Pickard | , Thomas ("T")Thomas ("T") | |
| Baku, ShangoShango Baku | , MarcusMarcus | |
| Ojo, WaleWale Ojo | , PinPin | |
| Rose, AlisonAlison Rose | , Ellen, Rage's motherEllen, Rage's mother | |
| Adams, SianSian Adams | , CindyCindy | |
| Oshinowo, LandyLandy Oshinowo | , ShonaShona |
Rage is a 1999 feature film directed and written by Nigerian-born Newton Aduaka. Rage is his debut feature. Fraser Ayres stars as Jamie, also known as Rage, a mixed-race, angry youth living on a grim council estate in South London. He is part of a rap trio with his two friends Godwin (Shaun Parkes) and Thomas (John Pickard). Looking to escape through their music, they turn to crime in order to finance making a record.
The first draft of the script was written in four days in 1996 by Aduaka. Although it had received some interest, it was only after the success of Aduaka's short On the Edge at the Cannes Film Festival in 1998 that making the film became a possibility. It nearly failed during principal photography due to the main finance being pulled just before filming began in September 1998.
Rage premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 1999 and got its UK premiere at the London Film Festival in November of the same year. The distribution rights were picked up by Metrodome Distribution and, after the film was recut to a shorter length, received its full theatrical release in January 2001.
Jamie, also known as Rage, is an angry young man of mixed race, who lives in Peckham, South London. He is part of a rap trio with Godwin ("G") and Thomas ("T"). In order to make a record, they need to get hold of £4000. Rage works as a shelf stacker. G is a pianist from a respectable black family. T is white and his parents are wealthy but his money is tied up in a trust.
Rage plans to finance the record by burgling T's parents' house. G hates the plan but goes along with Rage anyway. However, they find T's parents at home and the police catch the two young men: Rage is beaten up and possibly raped. T's parents drop the charges.
When G starts dating Lola, Rage is angry and G leaves the group. T also leaves after Rage assaults a racist policeman.
Jamie gets his nickname Rage from his simmering anger and a tendency to erupt. He shares similarities with the alienated black male characters in films such as Horace Ové's Pressure and Franco Rosso's Babylon. Unlike these, however, he is of mixed race, which throws up issues of identity. While Jamie seeks escape into a life of music from a bad job and criminal neighbours, Thomas tries to get away from his white middle-class background and G struggles with cool and uncool versions of his future in music. The shared identity of belonging to a trio is absurd in the context of their individual differences.
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