THE BIRTH OF A NATION

If you know me, my first polemic against anti-Jim Crow / slavery movies started somewhere around the time of the release of the movie “Red Tails“. Apres, came “12 Years A Slave.”

My remonstrance was that films like those, in addition to already having been made (in the case of Red Tails) and the story line being protracted and unoriginal, the plot to these particular movies only instills in Black Americans that “White American people DO NOT LIKE YOU, think you are unintelligent; you somehow have to break through their condescension, usually by way of the “Great White Hope” who gets his brothers to deign and allow you to prove your self-worth, be given justice – OR NOT!

Along comes The Birth of a Nation. 1. Written by a Black American Man, 2. Directed by a Black American man, 3. Starring a Black American man, NATE PARKER; the handsome young man whose first claim to fame (as I came to know him) was starring alongside Denzel Washington in “The Great Debaters“. He also had a part alongside Queen Latifah (or maybe I should start calling her Dana Owens now, for she seized to be The Queen Lah long ago) and Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson, Dakota Fanning and Sophi Okonedo in “Secret Life of Bees“. I believe (because I’ll never watch it) he had a part in “Red Tails” as well.

The Birth of a Nation: Slave / Jim Crow movie? YES! Horrific scenes and characters that every, so-called, great slave movie cannot do without, including the amiable and unctuous slave master? YES!

Where does the difference come in with The Birth of a Nation? Why am I, the anti-slave / Jim Crow / Kill-A-N*gg* movie machine, touting this film?

The film is an artfully mastered, bitter sweet build to a climax, which does not include the White American people assuaging their brethren to free themselves of their malignancy. Each step and passing phase causing the main character to amble toward apostasy, is palpable to the viewer; in particular an incident, easily removed from the eyes but immutable from the mind, taken in by the character Nat before his final sermon, at which point tears stream from his eyes as his words are surreptitously spoken past the slave masters and poignantly into the hearts of the slaves. His sermons and prayers then turn from repent, respect, this side’ll be over soon, heaven last always; to clandestine words of, your master will burn in hell, the first shall be last and the last shall be first and the meek shall inherit the earth. Then the INCIDENTS and the culmination of him praying over his grandmother, wrapped in cerement before her interment, pushes him to all out, no turning back, VIRULENCE!

When Nat Turner surrenders, (in the movie version), he’s not hoodwinked by any legerdemain of a White American promising him mercy, forgiveness and a place in heaven after penitence in the crucible. Nat gives himself mercy and clemency and takes his life into his own hands without fear and with dignity.

When asked, “do you got any last words to say to these folks?” Instead of his staid reply, “I’m ready”, I wish, someway without despoiling the integrity of the period piece and artistry of the film, a slow motion shot could have panned across Nat’s eyes and in came a portion of the intro to Ice Cubes classic debut album, “Amerikkkaz Most Wanted” released in 1990, where the jailers come to get Cube and walk him to the denouement of his death row sentence and they ask, “you got any last words?” If Nat would have mouthed in Ice Cube’s voice, when Cube says, “Yeah, I got some last words …… FUCK ALL YALL!!!!

The disappointing part, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Nominations / Awards, better known as The Oscars??? Will they recognize the brilliance of Nate Parker’s transformation of character throughout the movie. Will they see the ineluctable moment in the film which shift his thoughts and the way in which he then went about his ecumenical duties; the build to final climax was nothing short of amazing.

We all (including The Academy) could recognize The Remnant as a great movie and Leonardo Dicaprio‘s performance in it as brilliant. But will we all (including The Academy) be able to feel the nettlesome emotions emitted by Nate Parker in character as Nat Turner, at a plantation he’s to preach at, as he witnesses a wicked scene of a slave locked in a hovel sitting in feces, being forced fed. Will we all (including The Academy) recognize the protean nuances of venerability in the character leading to the climax. Will we all (including The Academy) be able to feel a Black American man’s pain when he realizes the word of God is being used against him and his people to keep them docile; that an act of God ultimately leads to his flogging.

I hope that Nate Parker already realizes that with this film, The Birth of a Nation, HE HAS WON, more than any award: NAACP IMAGE AWARD, SAG AWARD or OSCAR, can ever bestow upon him and/or the film. But, If we all (including The Academy) want to even attempt to make moribund the term, “White Privilege”, particularly in Hollywood, The Birth of a Nation will receive nominations and DARE I SAY, NATE PARKER WILL WIN THE OSCAR FOR BEST ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE!

Jrnl Entry No. 1.12.2001

I’m comin’ back on this subject after seeing the movie “Save The Last Dance”. In the movie this smart high school black kid, very conscious of his blackness, even street smart; he had a ghetto friend who was in and out of juvenile homes, and was a drug dealer tuff kid. But he on the other had had aspirations of being a doctor and had applied to Georgetown University for pre-med. He falls in love with a white girl who comes to the school by way of her mom dying and having to stay with her dad. He and the white girl had a battle of witts in class and it started from there.

The white girl becomes friends with his sister unknowingly, and tells her that he is an asshole, etc. because of their class argument. She’s embarrassed when told that he was her brother. So in a friendly argument upon being formally introduced by the sister, the white girl tells him that she could dance circles around him at a club that they would both attend the following weekend.

So they get to the club scene and the sister gets there with the white girl and a few of her other friends and her brother’s old girlfriend is there and they get into an argument. The sister notes that she doesn’t like the girl because of the way she played her brother, but they never went into detail about how she played him. The brother gets there and his old girlfriend comes and tries to be friendly with him and he disses her because obviously he didn’t like the way she played him neither. He finds the white girl and they get into general conversation and he brings up the dance challenge, and she tries to get out of it because she can dance ballet, but not Hip Hop. She gets on the floor and looks stupid. When they leave in a hurry as a result of his thug friend getting into a fight and he helped him out, he, his sister and the white girl are all going in the same direction. He walks the white girl home and they make a pact that he would teach her some dance moves since she was gonna be hangin out with his sister and going to that club. During the course of these dance lessons, they talk and fall in love.

Now if this isn’t the story of my senior year in high school when I fell in love with a white girl, I don’t know what is. The girl I was with at the movies said he had Jungle Fever, etc. I said it was just a case of two open minded, intelligent kids coming together through social settings and started loving each other. The same situation happened to me. I met my girlfriend in the bad, now granted, I was a victim of wanting to be with a white girl because that was all the media pushed on me and they just looked so cute and lovable when at school. Every since eighth grade, I wanted one. In 12^th grade I found one and fell in love and she loved me back.

Now, why this white girl in my senior year in high school? Before 12^th grade, I wanted a relationship with Bethlehem Strong, Marilyn Singleton, Alta Berret, Cinclaire Thomas. These were all beautiful black intelligent young females in my age group but none of the relationships ever happened except for Marilyn. She wasn’t trying to have sex with me and she broke up with me for no reason at all really. See, what most people don’t understand is that a black man want a lady, one that is often seen, but seldom heard and one that is smart. Bethelehem fit this bill perfectly. She was a straight “A” student, very beautiful and I never heard her voice unless she was talking to me or someone else near me. I never seen her in a fight or argument. This is the kind of girl a man wants to love. In fact, I hold a friendly love for Bethelehem in my heart to this day for the lady I know her to be, even though we never were in a relationship together, and even though she may not ever think of me in any kind of way.

When I was in 12^th grade, all I knew were loud mouth and rowdy girls with kids who were either with the fathers of the children or were not. And the key words in that sentence are LOUD MOUTH AND ROWDY! Not kids; for after I graduated from high school I was with a girl who had three kids while I was in college, and then another one after I graduated college. I can’t think of one black girl in the whole high school who I wanted to be in love with my senior year except for maybe Calesha Breakley. But she was too skinny, and plus she thought of me like a distant cousin because my first cousin Jerome’s dad was her uncle. I originally had planned on asking her to prom, but I got beat to the punch. There were the twins Sally and Salena but they had boyfriends, and they seemed just a little too damn quiet for me anyway. There was still Bethlehem, but she was in love with Fletcher Hightower and she stopped coming to school looking cute altogether. She was busy loving him while he was away at college and when he was at home. But while he was at home, he was loving Lillian Buckhead and got her pregnant. There was Anazette Thatcher, also one whom I love and respect to this day for the lady she is and was, but she wasn’t interested in me. She was in love with my friend Aderale or Gold.

If I had been in a relationship with Bethlehem or Anazette, a white girl couldn’t have entered my world, at least not then. I was in involved with Sarena Salinger when I got involved with the white girl, but I was under the brain washed mentality that she was dark-skinned and ugly. She wasn’t that cute, but she could dress well and she had a sexy walk and nice body. When I seen her in later years I regretted that I didn’t really get with her in high school. She never gave me another chance even though I tried a couple of times. With Serena, my good friend Rally introduced us. He told me that he had hit it and was passing her on to me because he didn’t like her, so that blinded me to the real beauty of her, which I discovered later on in college at YSU. And plus, I was brain washed thinking that I wanted me a white girl.

Now in the movie these two kids just innocently feel in love. I innocently feel in love with a white girl in high school too, but still I had that “I want a white girl” in the back of my mind. In the movie, he simply wasn’t seeing anyone at the time and neither was she, being that she just transferred to a brand new school. He was a gentleman, and she was a lady and they fell in love. Gentleman and lady, but most importantly, LADY! Even a thug wants a lady, but a gentleman whose set for college and has goals set, he definitely wants a lady to stand by his side. In some cases it doesn’t matter if she is black or white. Most white women present themselves as ladies, so in many cases, they get the gentleman, whether black or white.

LITTLE (the movie)

Saturday Apr 13, 2019 I went to Century City Westfield Mall AMC Theatre on Santa Monica Blvd to watch the movie, “LITTLE”.

Plot:

Regina Hill’s character “Jordan” was bullied as a child and has become a sociopathic overbearing boss of her own firm “PSI”. Jordan is deafly horrible to all of her employees, but particularly to her amenable assistant “April’, played by Issa Rae. Jordan: “ how are you supposed to take my calls when you’re sleeping?” April: “well I never know when you’re going to call so when am I supposed to sleep?” Jordan: “WHEN I’M NOT CALLIING!”

As a result of Jordan’s behavior which is an albatross to the entire organization, her firm is on the verge of losing its top grossing client; as a fall-out of that bad news, Jordan debases April in front of a little girl who calls her out on her bad behavior and mean-ness. In the ensuing melee, the little girl, who performs bad magic tricks, waves her magic wand and wishes Jordan to be “Little”; Jordan in turn, wakes up the next day as little Jordan, played by Marsai Martin.

The remainder is a conglomeration of some very funny and some very cheesy moments as epiphanies are revealed to little Jordan regarding the errors in her ways of being as an adult.

Regina Hill plays the despot CEO with perfect comedic timing. Who knew she was a comedian; proof her current growing resume in Hollywood, rising as a top actress participating in many great projects, with many more to come, is well deserved. To add comedy, with such a great performance, to her resume is quite a feat for a black actress who did not get her start as a stand-up comedian.

Her role as Jordan only goes to speak further to Hollywood, that only a slither of opportunity is needed and that any (no matter race or gender) performer, with hard work and dedication, can make a role come alive with great affect. What that means is that, with a movie such as “Little”, this movie 20 years ago, could simply have been played by and executive produced by an all-white cast and crew; flip the script, 20 years later, and the movie comes off well with majority black actors/actresses and executive producers (14 Yr Old Marsai Martin being one of the executive producers).

Issa Rae brings the full-on comedy to the film. Her thirsty, desperate, quirky, unsure, “INSECURE” (also the title to her hit HBO show) character is the best, is the worst, is everything. The way she reacts to any good looking male character in the film is comedic gold: “he can get it”, “you can get it”, “I’m available”, “Oh, you’re divorced, aaaaww, I’m so happy!” Her denouements to introductions of the handsome male characters in the film brought about high pitched laughter all throughout the film.

Marsai Martin played the role of Little Jordan, a precocious teen, who’s actually an adult, very well. When she had to return back to school and met her teacher, the tall and handsome, Justin Hartley; her expression of infatuation and sexual desire was something unimaginable. I had to ask myself, how was she able to give such an accurate portrayal of someone smitten by cupid; yet, having never been smitten in real life or at best, a yearling in the subject of love, at such a young age?

The three main characters: Marsai Martin “Little Jordan”, Issa Rae “April” and Regina Hill “Big Jordan” all brought their A-game to the performance of their roles and made a good film, as their top billing suggest they should have.

Will Packer Productions has tapped a market that is at the penultimate of fatigue with what, seemed in the early 2000s to be an indefatigable monopoly on black comedy, by Tyler Perry and his Madea character. But I admonish Will Packer Productions to take a second look at some of the moments in the films, such as the moment in Girls Trip at the very end, where the guy runs out of the hotel room naked with his penis burning from the fruit juice. And with Luke James character in this film, “Little”, he could have been a bit more grounded, and/or his surprise dance routine could have been better/shot/choreographed/performed. And some of the jokes did not land, as with every comedy, all of the jokes are not going to land with everyone. Be more cognizant of editing out cheezy parts and jokes that seem to be “one too many” of a joke, that the film could do without.

I celebrate the film; would definitely purchase the DVD as an entertaining re-watch at my convenience. Regina Hill’s performance was unexpected, funny, well performed. Congrats to her as her career continues to open up.