Set in the London-Jamaican dancehall scene, a “bashment” in the patois, the ‘bash’ becomes all too real during a hip-hop MC competition as a thuggish group of rappers turn on a gay man. The unrepentant attackers are jailed, while the victims try to balance revenge with understanding. It’s about black rage, constructs of masculinity, homophobia and the power of language and music. And the language of the film is powerful, with a lot of the dialogue delivered in rap rhyme. Despite the frank violence – no glossing over the brutality of gay bashings here – the film is full of hope and there is redemption at the end of this rainbow. The result is dramatic, unexpected, unpredictable, intriguing cinema.

Rikki Beadle-Blair travels courtesy of the British Council.