Jonah

Directed by Kibwe Tavares, a Brixton bred director who's first short films were inspired by the riots in his home town. He moved on to direct Jonah. The story of a man who manages to capture himself in a photo with a giant fish. He uses it to become locally famous and turn his naturally beautiful home-island into a tourist attraction. This ends up ruining nearly all the natural beauty of the island as it starts becoming more and more polluted. The appearance of the fish is the metaphor for this as the film is constantly cutting back to the fish which is becoming more and more dirty. At the start, the fish and it's home (the sea) is clean, teeming with life and beautiful. By the end, both the fish and it's home are riddled with garbage. The story took inspiration from the Book of Jonah from the bible. It's the story of a man named Jonah who tried to disobey God and run from his divine mission given to him by the Lord. He flees by ship and God sends a terrible storm. The other passengers throw Jonah overboard in an attempt to appease God. A giant fish sent by God then swallows Jonah whole. For 3 days and 3 nights, Jonah lives inside the huge fish and repents to God during prayer. He then resumes his mission to spread God's word to the city of Nineveh to repent before it's destroyed. This translates into the story because Juma (played by Malachi Kirby) who is Mbwanas' (played by Daniel Kaluuya) friend seems to be the one who notices the decrease in the island's beauty before anyone else. As it's happening in fact. Maybe if he had stood up to his friend and told him what he was doing was wrong and he should be careful what he wishes for, the city could have been saved.