Race seems to be America’s albatross. Not surprisingly, race seems to be Hollywood’s albatross too. While one might claim that Hollywood has come a long way from “The Birth of a Nation” (1915), the silent Civil War saga which glorified the Ku Klux Klan, the majority of the films which deal with race still seem to become controversial for one reason or another.
Sidney Poitier films in the 1950’s were criticized for presenting “the perfect Negro,” even though his roles were a direct response to the criticism that Blacks only appeared in Hollywood films as maids, railroad car porters, chauffeurs, and entertainers. The “Blaxploitation” films of the 1970’s - featuring characters such as Shaft and Superfly- were blasted for depicting Blacks as violent pimps and drug dealers, but the films did make money. So did “The Color Purple” (1985), which also was attacked for promoting negative images of Black males.
Films which deal with racial issues present us with several themes. White racism clearly is one of those themes. Racism appears in almost every film dealing with race. But it is far from the only theme in films about race. The struggle against racism is another major theme. I think there is a possibility that White and Black directors tend to handle the interplay between these themes differently, with black directors emphasizing the struggle against racism at least as much as the racism itself. This may be because black and White directors have different audiences. White directors often use racial themes to convince other Whites that racism is wrong. Black directors, who gear their films more toward their fellow Blacks, assume their audience knows that racism both exists and is wrong, so the struggle against racism gets more attention.
Other themes include interracial relationships and what might be called community and family studies. This all adds up to a growing number of diverse films about race. So how is a classroom teacher to choose what to show? I believe the guidelines presented earlier about ethnicity are equally valid here. Let me present reviews of several films with racial themes. The films are listed in descending order of quality, from my perspective. This time readers will need to preview the films and provide their own questions.
“HOOP DREAMS” 1994, 171 minutes, PG-13
“Hoop Dreams”, a lengthy documentary about high school basketball in Chicago, is my all-time favorite movie about race and race relations. Roger Ebert calls it one of the great moviegoing experiences of his lifetime (368). I concur completely. It would not be possible to write a story as inspirational as this six year odyssey of Arthur Agee and William Gates, two of the best 14 year old basketball players in Chicago when the film begins. The struggles of Arthur, William, and their families will remain with the viewer forever.
“DO THE RIGHT THING” 1989, 120 minutes, R for nudity, profanity, and violence
Ebert also champions this community study by Spike Lee, and again I agree completely. This may be Mr. Lee’s best movie. A tragicomic study of a Brooklyn neighborhood, this film raises many issues about race and race relations - never providing pat answers but always raising more and more questions. The main characters- Sal, Mookie, Radio Raheem, Buggin’ Out, and Da Mayor- are as memorable as the film’s final violent and tragic scenes. This is a powerful film. Teachers should preview it carefully before showing it.
“JUNGLE FEVER” 1991, 135 minutes, R for nudity, profanity, and violence
Martin and Porter only give this film three stars out of five, largely because of its excessive length (561), but Roger Ebert is much more positive, noting that the crackhouse scene is amazingly powerful, as is the frank discussion of sexual attraction between the races.(418) Ebert criticizes the depiction of the interracial romance because the characters are not fully developed. I liked the way it was handled because I believe Mr. Lee was trying to portray merely a physical attraction, not a relationship.
The film fully deserves its R rating. The nudity is so pervasive that I have not shown this film in my classroom - although I wish I could.
“A RAISIN IN THE SUN” 1961, 128 minutes, B&W, unrated
This screen adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry’s classic play is of great interest to my students, who usually have little use for black and white films. We watch the film before performing several of the scenes. Sidney Poitier is terrific as Walter Lee Younger, but it is Claudia McNeil’s performance as his mother Lena which really impressed me.
There is a 1988 version which features Danny Glover as Walter Lee and Esther Rolle as Lena. I liked this one too, but it is unnecessarily 43 minutes longer than the original.
“MALCOLM X” 1992, 193 minutes, PG-13
Spike Lee directs, Denzel Washington stars, and the result is a great screen biography. The film may have disappointed those who hoped Mr. Lee would provide a new interpretation of Malcolm X, but I believe Mr. Lee accomplished more by remaining faithful to the Autobiography. Once again, there are no easy answers, but race in America has never been an issue with easy answers.
“BOYZ N THE HOOD” 1991, 111 minutes, R for profanity, violence, and nudity
Martin and Porter wisely note that this is not the exploitation film about gang violence it appears to be.(133) It is probably the best of the central city dramas of the early 1990’s. A high percentage of my students had already seen it, which is why I have not shown it .
“AMISTAD” 1997, 160 minutes, R for violence and brief nudity
Steven Spielberg received a fair amount of criticism from historians for this powerful discussion of an 1839 incident which led to one of the first legal challenges to slavery. Yet if America is to confront its racial past, Amistad seems to be one of the best films available. Yes, the film is long, and yes, there are some tedious legal scenes, but the portrayal of the Middle Passage is as powerful as the death camp scenes in Schindler’s List.
“GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER” 1967, 108 minutes, unrated
“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” may be somewhat outdated, but it remains a fine middle of the road film about interracial marriage. This classic stars Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn as liberal White parents who become conflicted when their daughter becomes engaged to a Black doctor played - surprise!- by Sidney Poitier. Martin and Porter correctly note that this once controversial picture seems “rather quaint today,” but that has not bothered my students.
“DRIVING MISS DAISY” 1989, 99 minutes, PG for profanity
Film critics loved “Driving Miss Daisy,” which stars Jessica Tandy as an elderly Jewish widow and Morgan Freeman as her Black chauffeur. Roger Ebert sees it as a film of “great love and patience”(234). Martin and Porter give it the maximum five stars (309). The only dissenter seems to be Spike Lee, who blasted the Best Picture of 1989 for portraying Blacks in stereotypical roles. Mr. Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” also released in 1989, was unfairly denied a Best Picture nomination. But that is not the fault of “Driving Miss Daisy,” an especially fine film for students unfamiliar with the history and dynamics of American race relations.
“THE COLOR PURPLE” 1985, 130 minutes, PG-13 for profanity, violence, and suggested sex
Is it Steven Spielberg’s fault that Alice Walker’s novel was none too kind to Black males? Or did Spielberg deliberately exacerbate the novel’s sexism? However you feel, it is obvious that Spielberg’s problem may have been that he entered the landmine-filled gender wars within the Black community as an outsider. Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, and Danny Glover are all sensational, so this film receives my strong recommendation despite a few flaws, such as occasionally romanticizing life in the South under Jim Crow.
“A TIME TO KILL” 1996, 145 minutes R for violence, profanity and rape
Martin and Porter give this film only two and a half stars, but John Grisham’s tale of a Black man in Mississippi who kills the two racists who raped and assaulted his daughter has been very popular with young people of both races. The story is Hollywood at both its best and its worst, depending on your point of view. If you want to be entertained, this is a winner. If you want to be educated, try something else.
“ROSEWOOD” 1997, 140 minutes, R for violence, profanity, nudity, and torture
Rosewood purports to be an historical film about a racist attack on a prosperous Black community in Florida in 1923. The film is quite powerful. It seems a bit too long to me, but its real problem is that the last half hour is, as Martin and Porter suggest, more Indiana Jones than historical drama.(914) Even so, I have no problem recommending this film, although I too wonder about the authenticity of the main character, the “man with no name,” played quite well by the underrated actor Ving Rhames.
“A FAMILY THING “ 1996, 109 minutes, PG-13 for profanity and mild violence
No film with James Earl Jones and Robert Duvall can be a bad film, even though it is hard to imagine them as long-lost half brothers. I agree with Martin and Porter that Irma P. Hall as Jones’ aunt nearly steals the film (347), which may go to show that fine acting covers up a lot of loose edges in the script. An average film.
“ZEBRAHEAD” 1992, 102 minutes, R for profanity, violence, and sexual situations
This low-budget film is about a Jewish boy and a Black girl in inner-city Detroit who find themselves in a state of lust. Zebrahead is intriguing. It is filled with profanity, modern music, and symbolism. The story will hold your students’ interest, but the ending of the film may be seen as confusing rather than ambiguous. At least one character - a middle-class Black militant- is not only hopelessly stereotypical, he isn’t even given a name.
“MISSISSIPPI BURNING” 1988, 125 minutes, R for language and brutal violence
I am more forgiving than most when it comes to historical inaccuracies in historical films. Some academics’ criticisms seem pedantic to me. But the criticisms of “Mississippi Burning” seem on target. This film was very popular with both film critics and moviegoers. But Robert Rosenstone, an historian of film, notes that the movie marginalizes Blacks and makes heroes out of an FBI which acted very slowly when three civil rights workers were murdered in 1963. Visions of the Past (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1995), pp. 72-73.
