Why did I wait this long to see Attack the Block? I just played it on
a whim after meaning for a while to see it and it was like… so good? Moses
is one of the best film characters I’ve ever seen, with a clear and
well-defined arc yet plenty of complexity. I’m absolutely blown away
that John played this character when he was 17 to 18.

I
mean there’s a good reason for the tendency, little as I may like it,
for teens to be played by actors in their 20s. It’s hard to get teenaged
actors with the chops to convincingly portray a range of emotions and
experiences. John was clearly a rare find, young enough to be believable
for the character (and it really doesn’t seem like a good idea to have
young Black characters in particular be played by much-older actors),
yet already an accomplished actor who could portray a character of
Moses’s range and depth.

It’s no wonder J.J. Abrams fell in
love with John from this film; I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to
come away without loving John and Moses. This is the kind of favor a
good script can do for a good actor, when it lets them express
everything they can do and shows off their strengths. On the flip side,
of course, a bad script or bad director can hobble an actor like a pair
of pants around their ankles and make them look ridiculous.

Spoilers
below the cut. Usually I wouldn’t bother with spoiler warnings for a
film older than my kid but you’re seriously missing out if you haven’t seen
this one. Believe.

I
admit, I struggled at first trying to figure Moses out. He seemed so
nihilistic and violent, what was it that made him tick? Where was the
character people raved about so much–how could he be salvaged from all
this? Given how flatly the script refused to pull its punches,
sparing absolutely nothing of the details of his mugging Sam down to
pulling a knife and even taking her cheap little ring, I really wondered
how the movie was going to make a likable character out of him. The
case against him seemed as overwhelming as the evidence the cops found on him
when they arrested him.

Then, as the layers fell away in the
midst of an alien invasion, the movie did the impossible. I watched
Moses’s keen awareness of the injustices he and his neighbors lived
under, the communal code–messed up as it may be–of not mugging someone
who lived in the Block, his unfolding regret at what he had done.

And
then I understood. I mean, I can’t fully comprehend his experiences at
any level, but at last I got on an intellectual level what drove him.
Oh. Oh. Of course. The way he led the mugging while quaking
inside with fear. His pursuit and violent killing of the creature that
turned out to be the female alien. The way he led his friends into
action, the stoic planner, the first to charge into every fight. His
uncertainty around Hi-Hatz, not sure if this was what he wanted.

I
was looking at a young boy who desperately wanted to be a hero. This
character, who seemed straight out of every middle-class nightmare, had a
burning need to save, to take action, to use his considerable talents,
and the only outlets that seemed open to him were violence and crime.

This
shift in perspective had seemed impossible early in the movie, but a
combination of the writing and acting sold me on it. It’s also obvious
that this is a shift that has more implications than for this one fictional
character.

Moses may have been the big revelation but the
film is full of these jabs, like the one at the white savior industrial
complex where Pest wonders why Sam’s boyfriend is in Ghana with the Red
Cross when there are so many people who could use help right at home.
Also, I may not be a Brit but I’m pretty sure there’s no way for anyone
to miss the symbolism of Moses hanging on to the Union Jack after his
ultimate act of heroism, unfurling it fully.

I would also like to
add that THIS is how you do a redemption arc. Have the character’s
actions, even violent ones, make sense in their circumstances. Make it
clear they were in the wrong nonetheless. Show them truly regret it, and
not just because they got caught. Show them take action to make things
right, even at great risk or cost to themselves. Finally, of course,
make the whole thing consistent with who they are so that their
reactions and decisions are believable. You wanted to be a hero, Moses?
Well here’s your chance.

The ending, with the crowd chanting
“Moses!” and the character himself looking peaceful and at ease for the
first time, so vulnerable and open, was the
perfect culmination of his arc and will stay with me a long time. I’m
astonished and thankful to be alive at the same time as John Boyega and
to be able to watch his career.