KIDS, KNIVES & BROKEN LIVES
Monday 30 June 2008 9pm
Kids, Knives and Broken Lives investigates why so many young people regularly take to the streets of Britain armed with guns and knives. In a climate where politicians struggle to stem the tide of violence in Britain’s inner cities, this film offers an insight into why street weapons have become so widespread by hearing directly from the young people themselves.
SIX SHORT WEB EXCLUSIVE FILMS
Watch six short films featuring characters from across the UK who were not part of the final version of Kids, Knives & Broken Lives*
Director Jezza Neumann and producer Brian Woods (the multi-Bafta-winning team behind China’s Stolen Children and Undercover in Tibet) go to London, Birmingham, Manchester and Bradford to explore the day-to-day reality of life for those who carry weapons.
Relying entirely on the candid testimony of young people themselves, the programme paints a picture of life cut-off from the Britain most of us take for granted. It shows the human consequences of a society that allows so many of its youth to grow up without hope, while at the same time selling the consumer dream in which anyone can become rich and famous. Teenagers speak about why so many of their peers are "tooling up", how easily weapons are obtained and what impact tougher sentencing and knife amnesties actually have.
Young people talk about how their “real family” are the friends they spend most of their waking hours with, while others observe that single working parents have little chance of knowing what their teenage children are up to. Throughout the documentary, victims of bullies become bullies themselves. Peer pressure mounts so that casual violence becomes an acceptable way of life and influences from movies and video games spread onto the street. Being respected, in the only way they see possible, is a recurring theme in the accounts of these young men. A sense of achievement and purpose is rarely gained by focusing on education, work or constructive activity and in order to retain a place in the world, notions of territory and aggression often dominate the streets.
In communicating the voices of young people at the heart of the problem, not only does the film document the actions they take but also highlights the worrying conditions under which they make their choices. It provides a window into a strikingly different Britain, one in which fear motivates young people to arm themselves and bloodshed is a way of life.
By asking the real experts on street weapons what the solutions might be, this film provides shocking, blunt and at times deeply disturbing answers. Also containing seeds of hope, Kids, Knives and Broken Lives is an intimate and symptomatic portrayal of our country as seen through the eyes of our teenage urban youth.
* 'Croydon Crew', 'Balaclava Boy', 'Tooting Youngers' & 'Handsworth Crew' were filmed, directed and produced by Jezza Neumann and edited by Peter Williams. 'Ike's Funeral' and 'Shocka' were filmed and directed by Janey Ayoade and produced and edited by Peter Williams. All films are True Vision productions for Channel 4.
