How Movies Bridge Racial Divides
Ken Jones, Chief Film Critic
Like millions of people in this country, and now quite literally around the world, I was shocked and outraged by the killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. When I saw the video footage of the police officer kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes the next day, it eventually dawned on me that what I was watching was not a recording of police brutality but it was essentially a snuff film. George Floyd was declared dead at the hospital, but his life ended handcuffed, face down, in that street, unable to breathe, and with a police officer’s knee on his neck. In hindsight, it was one of the most disturbing things I’ve seen.
What was most unsettling of all for me was the unmoving, remorseless posture of the police officer slowly draining the life out of him. Derek Chauvin seemed unrepentant and defiant in the moment, refusing to acquiesce to pleas from concerned onlookers or the pleas from George Floyd himself before he lost consciousness, as if taking his knee off of his neck would be a sign of weakness or something. It was a murder, and I hope the officers responsible are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
George Floyd’s murder set of a chain reaction across social media that quickly grew into a worldwide display of outrage as people took to the streets to demand justice and change. People should be outraged and their voices should be heard and change has to come because we’ve allowed racism to fester for too long in this country.
In addition to the protests, I hope some people are taking the time to rethink their priors about their views of racial issues in this country. That’s where I’ve found myself in the last several days, processing a wide range of thoughts, emotions, and information and trying to stumble toward… something, anything productive. Over the last few days, I decided I wanted to try to channel my thoughts into what I’m writing now, because this is the small platform that I have.
Just a little background on me. I live in Maine where I was born and raised. Aside from attending college in upstate New York for four years, I’ve lived my entire life here. Not being a man of means, I don’t travel that much, so I pretty much stick to my little corner of the world. To put it bluntly, Maine is a very white state. One of the whitest states in the country, especially when you get outside of the greater Portland area. Growing up here, my exposure to culture of any kind that didn’t look like me came mostly from books, TV, music, and movies.
Being able to write about and discuss movies on this site is a genuine joy for me. I’ve loved movies ever since I was a little kid. Some of my earliest memories involve movies, whether it’s the original Star Wars trilogy, or Ghostbusters, or Back to the Future. I got into consuming film over the last decade or so, which really grew out of getting a Netflix account way back in the mid-2000s. I wanted to expand my horizons, catch up on a lot of classics that I had missed but also experience different kinds of movies that I hadn’t been exposed to. Some of that involved learning about the black experience in America.
I can never truly know what it’s like to be black in America. I’ll never live with all of the baggage that entails. And movies can’t give that too me. But the famous idiom says, “Don’t judge someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.” Movies give us the ability to walk in someone shoes for a bit; maybe not a mile, but maybe at least a few steps. And sometimes those steps can lead to more steps, and before you know it you’ve walked farther than you realized.
A lot of people view movies as escapism and something they can put on and shut their brain off. But movies can be like a utility knife, they can serve multiple functions and if we’re only using them for one thing then we’re not getting the maximum use out of them. As I’ve watched more and more movies beyond the generic summer blockbusters, I’ve discovered the value of diversity in storytelling, of having the opportunity to see the world from a different perspective than the one I’ve had.
Stretching out the utility knife metaphor a bit more, maybe the utility we seem to have the least use for is the ability of film to challenge us. Again, so many times we look to movies as a comfort. I just recently wrote about how during this Covid-19 pandemic I found myself more drawn to the comforts of comedy and movies I’ve seen multiple times because I know they’ll make me feel good. It’s a sad irony that in such a short time I’ve found the need to feel challenged by what I’m watching, but the moment seems to call for it.
One film that challenged me is Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, which I finally saw for the first time a few years ago. Simmering tensions through most of the movie, set during a hot day in New York City, quickly reach a boiling point when a black man is choked to death by the police outside of a pizzeria. I didn’t like where the film goes when the community reacts to his death and the rage that is unleashed in the neighborhood. I still struggle with that. Having seen what happened to George Floyd, though, I’m reconsidering my previous thoughts on Do the Right Thing and will probably need to rewatch it again at some point for a critical reassessment.
There have been several other films that I have watched over the last few years that have educated me:
12 Years a Slave – A sobering and unflinching look at slavery. Two scenes stick with me from this film by Steve McQueen. The first is when Solomon is strung up on a branch and left there hanging for hours with his toes barely touching the muddy ground and constantly struggling to keep his balance while other slaves go about their business working around him. The second is the powerful moment of when he joins in singing “Roll Jordan Roll.”
Fruitvale Station – Before Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan made Creed, they told the story of Oscar Grant being shot by cops in Oakland in 2008.
Selma – Ava DuVernay biopic about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. centers on the events around his march from Selma to Montgomery.
The Birth of a Nation – This film was unfortunately overshadowed by news of sexual misconduct by the director when he was a younger man, but it is worth seeing because of how some black slaves were used against other slaves to keep them oppressed and subdued.
Loving – The story about the case of Loving vs. Virginia which led to the end of laws against interracial marriages. When he’s asked by his lawyer what message he has for the Supreme Court, it’s simple and moving: “Tell the judge I love my wife.”
Hidden Figures – The untold stories of people who have been integral parts of history are worth sharing.
Get Out – The greatness of Peele’s story is that for Daniel Kaluuya’s Chris, the question lingers as to whether these white people are simply weird or is it something more? Of course, it’s definitely something more.
The Force – This little-known documentary details the struggle to reform a broken police system in Oakland.
Mudbound – A movie released directly on Netflix, it’s set in the post-WWII era south, where a man can fight for his country but still not be a full human being in the eyes of some of the people in his community.
Sorry To Bother You – Subversive satire about a black man using his inner white voice, literally, to get ahead in life.
If Beale Street Could Talk – Barry Jenkins follow-up to Moonlight depicts the struggle of a couple in the face of racial injustice and how the system is stacked against them.
BlacKkKlansman – Spike Lee finally earned the Oscar he probably deserved a long time ago with this outrageously true story about a black cop infiltrating the KKK.
The Last Black Man In San Francisco – A man fights to try to regain his family home in a city rapidly changing. This movie moved me and the line “People aren’t one thing” still stays with me.
Most of these movies are available for streaming on Neftlix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, or elsewhere. Additionally, there are several movies that I am planning to sit down and take in over the next several days that I haven’t gotten to yet, including Just Mercy, 13th, I Am Not Your Negro, and Marshall. I hope they stretch me and give me something to wrestle with.
When Bong Joon-Ho accepted a Golden Globe earlier this year, he said, “Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.” It was one of the best, heart-warming quotes about films I’ve ever heard. There are a lot of other barriers than subtitles. There are so many unique stories out there from people who don’t think like me, who don’t see the world like I do, who have different life experiences than mine. They can help us step out of our cultural/political/religious/societal bubbles and experience something different. And movie can change how we see the world, and new events in the world can make us reassess how we previously viewed a movie. Step beyond yourself and dare to be challenged.