Sarah Gavron’s film about a teen left to fend for herself joins the likes of Kes in the pantheon of great
British realist cinema
There is a great deal to love about Sarah Gavron’s new movie Rocks but, as a survey of contemporary British youth and their prospects, it is pretty depressing. Rocks is a 15-year-old
London schoolgirl (played by newcomer Bukky Bakray) who is abandoned by just about everyone. Her father is dead and her depressed mother decides to go awol, leaving her to look after her younger brother unsupervised. Her school seems more concerned with lowering pupils’ expectations than educating them. Social services can barely keep track of her, either. There seem to be no safety nets left.
Realist cinema has always recognised the effectiveness of highlighting society’s failings through the plight of children, and Rocks joins a procession of British kids sounding the alarm, from Ken Loach’s Kes through Shane Meadows’s Somers Town, Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank, Clio Barnard’s The Selfish Giant and more. The situation never seems to improve.