Countryman in Brixton

… It was a spiritual battle that included the release of the movie ‘Countryman’, produced by Island and dedicated to Bob Marley. The Brixton Ace hosted the world premier. Anyone who was there would remember the day.

The premier was more a green blanket than a red carpet affair. Two thousand un-silent faces packed into the theatre waiting for the show to start, smoke so thick you could cut it with a knife. Law? What law? Two souljahs walked along the balcony ledge, fifty feet up.

Fagin got up on stage to introduce the film. Who wants to hear that? The crowd wanted the movie and they wanted it now. The can said so.

The empty soda can thrown from the middle of the stalls, from the heart of the audience. It came at him fast and true, but charlie was in him and Fagin was onto it. He reached out and caught the can mid-air. The crowd began to bubble, some to shout. Immediately Fagin set himself to return fire.

Oh, no.

There stood Fagin, centre stage, a White Jew alone and can in hand, about to throw it into a mass of two thousand Black faces. Might as well have been a skinhead with a brick. Fagin had seen who’d thrown it and took aim.

I watched as the can spun in slow-mo, revolving in the air, flying above the sea of heads. I saw two thousand heads all turn as one like a slow rolling wave pulled by the gravity of the spinning can. I saw four thousand narrowed eyes tracing its perilous flight in breathless disbelief. But all I heard was someone drop a pin.

Two thousand jaws dropped as the four thousand eyes snapped wide. The can hit its target, dropping perfectly into the offending protester’s lap! The theatre erupted into one enormous cheer, with whooping exclamations of approval all round.

The brother took it well too, with a smile and a nod to the heavens. Still smiling he shook his head at Fagin, unbelievable.

Without knowing it he’d just been introduced to the one they called Blackheart. A well-guided start to the world premier of a well-guided film: ‘Countryman’.