Written by the Dennis Potter Screenwriting Award winner, Sharon Foster and directed by Ngozi Onwurah, Shoot the Messenger centres around Joe, played by David Oyelowo, who’s painful journey to self discovery forces him has to question his beliefs about his own black community.

The film starts off by Joe making quite a strong statement, “Whenever I think about everything bad that has happened to me, it has involved a black person”, and then proceeds to take us down the route of his journey of self discovery.

Joe is inspired by to become a teacher after visiting a community meeting and learning about the lack of black male role models for kids in school. He takes it upon himself to teach the black students by all means even if they do not want to be taught. However this does not come down well with all his students, most especially Gemal, who is played by young aspiring actor, Charles Mnene.

Gemal accuses Joe of assault when he gives taps his shoulder to encourage him to get into the classroom. Gemal’s claims are backed up by two other students who have also failed to take a liking to Joe’s teaching. Joe is found guilty of assault in the courts and fired from his ‘dream’ job.

This is the beginning of a downward spiral for Joe, and the loss of his job coupled with a suspended jail sentence, triggers a psychotic episode where Joe is in denial of his identity as a black person, thus causing him to be hospitalized.

Upon release from the hospital, Joe is led to fend for himself on the streets of London, until he is rescued from an elderly Christian woman who stops at nothing to get him off the streets, which brings about the most hilarious scene in the film, when she brings along the pastor of her church to cast demons out of Joe.

Joe finally accepts her help and moves into her home, and begins to find his feet again, and he seems to have found someone who shares his views about black in his host, who declared to Joe, “Black people are like crabs in a basket; try to get out and you get pulled down,”

Joe recovery is helped when he gets a job at a Job Centre, and falls for his co-worker Heather, played by Nikki Amuka-Bird. However Joe is till unable to shake his negative perception about black people and this puts a strain on his new relationship.

It takes a sudden change in fortunes for his arch enemy Gemal to get Joe to address his altitude. Gemal, after being thrown out of school, comes to the Job Centre looking for work, and Joe sends him to the crappiest there is. The stress of the job triggers a depressive episode in Gemal and he gets admitted into hospital. It is only when Joe goes to visit Gemal in the hospital that he brought down to earth, and realizes that he might been racist in the way he constantly puts down black people.

The film had some strong acting by David Oyelowo, it however was drawn out in some places, and the constant talking to the camera was a put off in most parts. However, it was still a good film, which addressed some issues that people within the black community are sometimes afraid to address.