My Murder (TV Movie 2012)

My Murder: Directed by Bruce Goodison. With John Boyega, Malachi Kirby, Simona Zivkovska, Franz Drameh. In 2008 London teenager Shakilus Townsend determines to put his delinquent past behind him and turn his life around,hoping that new girl-friend Samantha Joseph will help him. Whilst he is smitten with her he fails to see that she already has a vicious boyfriend Danny McLean who is murderously jealous. At McLean’s bidding Samantha Joseph delivers Shakilus to him and his gang,who beat and stab him to death,later receiving life sentences for his murder.

“I recorded this when it was first screened and have just watched it. I was actually quite disturbed by this portrait of urban life in sink estate South London. The lack of opportunity and the warped hierarchies that emerge in an environment like this are chilling. I disagree with the other reviewer here in that what happened here was an evil act and the perpetrators dispatched their victim in a calculated manner, there is no excuse or reason for this apart from machismo and misplaced pride, heu0026#39;s certainly not insane, no doubt a nasty personality disorder, but mad no! The Dannys of this world have no place in society.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI think the docudrama was well crafted, and the acting superb, the most sinister character of the lot was Samantha, the immature impulsive girl that played games that ultimately went terribly wrong. In her mind the boy Shaki went from plaything to pawn without a second thought. There is a lot in this piece that is open to interpretation. To agree with the other reviewer, like him Iu0026#39;m sure this scenario has been and will be repeated (albeit with less tragic circumstances) all over the UK.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAm I a narrow minded Brit, no Iu0026#39;m not, however I am repulsed by gang culture as it destroys communities and takes lives as demonstrated here, there are also the others, the people that watched Shaki being killed in their garden, the old lady in the lift, the frightened people on the bus, all people affected by this blight.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI donu0026#39;t know what the answer is, there are gangs in every urban area and tragedies such as this occurring, however I do think programmes such as this one do raise awareness and get people thinking”