Acheampong, D.

English

UEL Research Repository at University of East London

Educational Psychology Research and PracticeVolume 7, Issue 1, 2021Review of the Film Rocks, by Sarah Gavron, DirectorDaniel AcheampongUniversity of East LondonRocks is a film that tells the story of a young girl, Shola,who is tasked with looking after her little brother as hermother faces challenges with her mental health and leavesthe family home. The film follows Shola’s — fondly knownas Rocks — journey and showcases her unique challengesthrough the joys of sisterhood. I didn’t really have any ex-pectations when going to see the film and was just lookingfor some light-hearted relaxation from the taxing but reward-ing life as a trainee educational psychologist. Little did Iknow that the very thing I was looking to escape for a mo-ment would bring me back to thinking about my practice asan educational psychologist.This film was an opportunity to see how the interactionsbetween systems can impact a child’s development and life.With Shola struggling to finance her and her brother’s upkeepdue to her mother’s departure, she is forced to truant and finda job at a nail salon. She harnesses her skills in make-upthat she honed in the playgrounds of her secondary schoolto generate an income. With no one at school aware of herstruggles at home, she becomes withdrawn, even from thoseclose to her, including her friend Sumaya. Social services arenow looming and paying regular visits to the house. Fearingbeing placed in foster care, she flees her home to go to an-other friend’s house as Sumaya’s family don’t have room intheir home. Struggling with the shame and stigma of hersituation she finally confides in her friend, who divulges herstory to her parents, and sees Rocks and her brother separatedby social services and placed in different homes.In this film, we are invited into this story of girlhood,friendships that seem to transcend the hardships of life andadolescences. Shola shows great resolve to preserve therelationship she has with her closest friend Sumaya, evenwhen she isn’t able to meet her need for shelter and safety.Throughout, Shola has strong attachments that keep her headabove the rising tides of poverty and possible homelessness.This film displays the significance of having people whoare available to form strong attachments that we can use asa secure base to tackle and resolve challenging situations.Although this may appear fundamental, many professionalsworking with young people need to prioritise this and under-stand the support network of a young person and the accessi-bility of it as it can be vital in creating the necessary changeneeded.One of the best things about this film, and which gives itsuch power, is that the writers carried out workshops withover 80 young people to develop the scenes and script forthe film. The writers adopted narrative techniques such aswriting diary entries to get the actors to connect with theircharacters and think about who they would be. Taking aperson-centred approach like this, it’s no wonder I felt thatthe film resonated with me so much as an educational pro-fessional. It meant that the views and beliefs of the youngpeople were incorporated into the formation of the charactersseen on screen, giving a valuable insight into how their livedexperiences shape the characters’ way of being.For educational psychologists, I would suggest this filmas a must-watch for understanding the realities of the impactof different events and situations across a young person’s en-tire system and for considering how the issues raised in itmight inform our practice. Young people sometimes haveno control over the life circumstances handed to them. Wecan collaborate with others to see how the expectations andchallenges between systems such as family, school and localauthority services can cause such disruption in the lives ofyoung people and to ensure that young people have the sup-port needed to facilitate change and promote positive out-comes.

Review of the Film Rocks, by Sarah Gavron, Director

https://repository.uel.ac.uk/download/fca22e10c3f1f79cd2d82475246f9e842287271983246f8a6e4ba9eb62db4123/28725/Educational%20Psychology%20Research%20and%20Practice%202021%207%201%20Acheampong.pdf

Review of the Film Rocks, by Sarah Gavron, Director

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

UEL Research Repository at University of East London