Freida Pinto on 'Guerrilla' and black activism
— -- Freida Pinto is back on screen in the new Showtime mini-series “Guerrilla.”
The six-part British drama is set in 1970s England against the backdrop of the immigration act, the revolution around it and the Black Power movement. It follows the efforts of a pair of activists, Marcus Hill and Jas Mitra, trying to free a political prisoner who they think will be the symbol of the revolution.
Pinto plays the role of Jas opposite Babou Ceesay as Marcus. She stopped by ABC’s “Popcorn With Peter Travers” to talk about the series.
“Basically Marcus is qualified to be a teacher but because he is black and in England a lot of people who came from colonial countries like Africa and Asia they were called nonpartials according to the immigration act,” Pinto, 32, told Peter Travers. “And they were relegated to jobs below their qualifications or their pay grade and their experience in training.”
Together Jas and Marcus hope that freeing the political prisoner will send a strong message about the immigration injustices. Pinto said she hopes the series itself will also send a message.
“I feel when you talk about black activism even that is not understood properly. With this show, I hope it does shed some light on the term political blackness as opposed to just black, the color of someone’s skin. I believe that for an Indian living in the U.K. in 1971, was the same kind of injustice that someone who had black skin coming from the Caribbean or the countries of Africa, they were the same,” Pinto said. “They were just all treated as [second-class] citizens. So for me to represent it as political blackness is very refreshing. And I hope that happens with the diversity that we talk about in America as well. It’s not just one color of the skin.”
Watch Travers' full interview with Pinto above -- and be sure to stay till the end to see Pinto sing a favorite song from her childhood.
