Gang culture has often been associated with violent young men, selling drugs and killing their rivals over what is usually perceived to be a petty dispute. British films such as Kidulthood (2006) and Bullet Boy (2004), explored the theme of troubling gang violence from the perspective of those who are most involved in gang culture, teenage boys. Over the years however, there has been growing concern over the role that young girls play in gangs, and various studies have revealed that female involvement in gangs is on the rise. As the nature of gangs are changing, so is the cultural representation of them, and while in the past many films about gang culture focused predominantly on the male perspective, more recent films have been exploring London gang culture from a female perspective.
One such film is Rebecca Johnson’s feature debut Honey Trap. First launched at last year’s London Film Festival as the film of Choice, Honey Trap retells the true life story of a murder that took place in Brixton. Skins actress Jessica Sula stars in the leading role, as Layla a naïve 15 year-old girl who arrives in London from Trinidad. She soon gets involved in a gang after falling in love with the gang’s leader, and self-professed rapper Troy (Lucien Laviscount ). In order to win back his affections, Layla sets up her one true friend, Shaun (Ntonga Mwanza), who is also in love with her, to be killed by Troy’s gang.
The tragic tale earned Johnson a Best Newcomer nomination at last year’s London Film Festival. Although Honey Trap is Johnson’s first full length feature film, Johnson is no newbie to the world of film making and has been working in the film industry for over 10 years. She owns a non-profit production company, Fierce Productions, which was formed in 2004. Her short film, Top Girls, which also deals with gangs from a female perspective earned her worldwide recognition and was shown at film festivals across the globe including in Berlin, Rotterdam and Los Angeles.
“I have often explored the theme of girls in a man’s world,” Johnson said in an interview at the LFF, on why she chose to make a film about this particular story.
“I’ve been working with young people in my local area of Brixton for more than ten years. So when I stumbled across this story and the idea of telling it, it brought up themes about gender and struggling with the idea of being a girl in a man’s world.”
“I made the film because I wanted to humanise the people involved in the story,” she added. “I along with so many other Londoners have seen so many children and young people involved in violence and horrific things. Very often what we get is these blank eyed mug shots and the idea that these children have lost their humanity. I know from working with children involved in gang culture that is just not the case. They are in fact very human, very messily human. I think that it’s important that, even though it might be difficult, that we empathise with and understand people that have been brought into these situations.”
HoneyTrap will be released in cinemas from May 8th.
For information on where you can watch it visit the Honey Trap Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/honeytrapfilm.
