A tale of the growing social awareness of a young Black woman, Burning an Illusion finds its authenticity in the West Indian community of London. The young woman, Pat (Cassie MacFarlane), is a secretary yearning for the comforts and values of the middle class. She is in continual juxtaposition with the material apparatus of this elusive social stratum, the jewelry, hairdressers, the romantic fiction. But her naiveté and conventional aspirations are slowly eroded by her new-found beau, an intense and instinctively political young man. An unemployed toolmaker, Del (Victor Romero) goes, in quick succession, from the dole to jail. This downward slide, propelled by Del's unerring anger and defiance, awakens Pat to the injustice underscoring life as a conscious Black woman. Burning an Illusion is the first feature written and directed by Menelik Shabazz, a 28-year-old Barbadian-born immigrant. His portrayal of the young Black lifestyle in London is strikingly familiar. This film could have been set in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, or any American city where inequality shapes the lives of Black youth.