My Name Is Leon

One can read a lot about the bureaucracy associated with adoption these days; but at least modern policy is child-centric, and hopefully less racist than it was in the past. Based on a novel by Kit de Wal, 'My Name is Leon' is at its best when it shows how hard, in less enlightened times, the old way of doing things could be on children at a point in their lives when they most needed support; and slightly clumsier as it explore themes of racial awareness and, in a slightly rose-tinted ending, inter-racial understanding. Although the Handsworth riots feature in the background, a bigger story never quite coaleseces. But the more personal tale is powerful and, in places, heartbreaking.