Review: Jungle on Amazon Prime

★★★★

Media that is set in inner city London and looks at the culture of living in the inner city isn't in Short Supply in the UK-think Kidulthood, Top Boy, Attack the Block, Yardie. And now there's a new one to add to the list. Jungle on Amazon Prime.

In my opinion, there is something about Jungle that sets it apart from the rest. Its cast is made up of UK rappers and drill artists turning their hands to acting, including people like Tinie, Dizzee Rascal, Big Narstie, IAMDDB, M24 and more. But rather than just having them there as famous or recognised faces, they utilise their first skill - music. This show feels like Shakespeare meets Hamilton meets a video game. Told through a mix of spoken dialogue as well as new music written for and performed in the show, it feels almost like a theatre performance on screen. There's even clever references to plays like Macbeth that are beautifully done.

However, where shows like Top Boy are wholly authentic and rooted in reality, Jungle takes a different approach. We know it's set in London, but with intense, bright holograms plastered on every notable building, it could easily be any developed city in the world. The graphics and lighting feel like they're out of a game like GTA, otherworldly. And time too is left up to the imagination. The holograms and smartphones say it's a near future, but the cars and rotary phones are giving 80s or 90s. It could be any developed city, at any point in the last 40+ years.

However the story? That feels real. And perhaps that is the point. Wherever and whenever you are, the struggle of working-class inner city life, especially as a person of colour is largely the same. It's something that across the world and generations, audiences can relate to. The idea of doing what you have to, to survive. Of seeking family and support in the streets. Of not knowing how to get out of a place you found yourself in as a teenager, which really doesn't serve you as an adult. Of losing people you love to the senseless violence that so often accompanies ego and pride - which so often come when you grow up being beaten down and dehumanised by poverty. The feeling of being trapped by your circumstances, and the sense of anxiety, dread, and paranoia that can cause.

In all of it - the violence, the less than legal acts of desperation, the lyrics to the raps - the creators Junior Okoli and Chas Appeti have done a powerful job at showing that so often the underlying cause of violence, of crime, is vulnerability. That underneath hyper-masculinity and bravado it's mostly boys scared of losing everything, or scared they have nothing to lose.

The two episodes we got to see for review certainly have me excited to watch the final 4, and see how they tie this all together. All 6 episodes are now available to stream on Prime Video.