race – We Are Movie Geeks

PASSING – Review

In 1920s New York, two women, once childhood friends, meet again accidentally one hot summer day. Both are Black but one of them, Clare (Ruth Negga), is “passing” as white, married to a successful white banker (Alexander Skarsgard), who has no idea his wife is Black, while the other, Irene (Tessa Thompson), is married to prosperous Black doctor (Andre Holland) in Harlem. Set during the Harlem Renaissance and based on Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel of the same name, PASSING is actor-turned-director Rebecca Hall stunning directorial debut, in a drama that explores not only race but identity, feminism, personality clashes and the dynamics of women’s friendships in a tale that borders on psychological thriller.

Shot in gorgeous black-and-white, with a 4:3 aspect ratio that mirrors films of the 1920s time period, PASSING is an impressive, involving and thought-provoking film. It is, of course, not the first film to focus on “passing,” meaning the ability of some light-skinned Blacks to be taken as white, which allowed them during the era of segregation to cross the color line, whether temporarily for shopping or work, or by living under an assumed white identity. Previous Hollywood films, such as IMITATION OF LIFE, have address the practice, although they tended to punish the transgressor crossing the color line, but PASSING takes a more complicated look. Author Nella Larsen had some direct experience with passing, as she was mixed race but raised in a white neighborhood, and had a foot in both worlds as an adult. PASSING explores issues of race and “passing” but also delves into other questions of identity, of women’s satisfaction with their lives, the dynamics of friendship, and contrasting personalities, in a drama that almost borders on psychological thriller.

Director Hall draws fine performances from Negga and Thompson, and shows a firm hand as the story unfolds from the heat of summer to the chill of winter, and finally to its devastation conclusion. But one may wonder why a white English woman is directing this story about racial passing but things are not always what they seem, to paraphrase a character in the film. Hall recently revealed that she had learned at some point that her maternal grandfather, who she never met, was a Black man passing as white. So when Hall read Nella Larsen’s novel, it resonated with her, leading her to adapt it for the screen, and eventually make this film.

In a sense, both women are passing when they meet as film opens. The story is set in New York during the flourishing of the Harlem Renaissance, but it is also the time of Jim Crow and lynchings in the South, as the film notes at one point, Even in New York, segregation is in place and crossing the “color line” is risky. But it is a hot summer day, and Irene (Tessa Thompson) has taken refuge from the heat in a whites-only hotel restaurant, where she knows that with her light-toned skin means she is likely to be take as white. Irene’s awareness of that passive deception, and her nervousness about it, is revealed by how she hides much of her face under her cloche hat, as if looking people in the eye will give her away. But the day is hot, and she knows he can find a cool spot and a cool drink in that hotel. She does not expect to find Clare.

When a blonde-haired woman approaches her table, Irene tenses up, and does not recognize her old friend Clare. When Clare suggests they move to her hotel room to chat, Irene quickly agrees, uncomfortable with the public attention they might draw.

Both the women appear happy with their choices and both have comfortable lives, with husbands, children and financial stability. But Clare longs to reconnect with her friend, and her black identity, while Irene is cool to the idea. While Irene dotes on her two boys, Clare has sent her daughter to a boarding school in Switzerland, far from the racial attitudes of the U.S. When Clare asks her if she’s never considered passing, Irene bristles and reveals her disdain for what Clare is doing. She also expresses a fear for Clare’s safety, if she tries to reconnect with her black past, as well as worry about being too near that risk herself. When Clare’s husband appears, and reveals both that he is completely clueless about his wife’s identity and a confirmed racist, Irene can’t get out of there fast enough.

Irene has no intention of seeing Clare again. As we learn shortly, back in Harlem, Irene is active as a volunteer with an organization working to advance rights for Black people and a prominent member in the community. She is a devoted mother to her two boys and fully confidence in her own world, with none of the nervous we saw as she moved through the white part of town. Although she is not interest in renewing her friendship with Clare, Clare shows on her doorstep nonetheless

As charming, charismatic Clare slowly inserts herself into Irene’s life, Irene’s settled, quiet life becomes unbalanced, and cracks in the happy facade of both women begin to appear. Irene has built her life around devotion to her sons but now that seems to occupy her life yet she resists her husband’s suggestion they move to another country, as they once planned, raise the boys in a less racist environment. Irene seems to both resent and envy Clare’s freedom, moving between white and Black worlds and free from husband, who is often traveling, and child. There is a frisson of attraction between her and vivacious Clare but Irene senses a worrying similar frisson between Clare and her husband. Clare, on the other hand, seems to becoming bolder as she crossing between worlds, ignoring the risks she is taking.

There are personal dynamics between these two very different women, which plays out against the backdrop of Irene’s world, the one Clare wants to be part of while keeping her privileged one in the white world. The acting is excellent, and Hall explores the complex issues and the personal dynamics as the film builds tension, as the season change. Hall used the period details, the black-and-white images, and skillful mis-en-scene to both create the time period and the specific world of these women, While the focus is on the two women, the men are fully rounded characters and neither one-note villain or hero. All the ideas are gray areas, in contract to the film itself. t ends with with a shocking scene, where there is a flurry of action where it is not clear what happened, although we kind of know.

PASSING is a thought-provoking film, a well drawn view of the historical time period but a timeless look at interpersonal dynamics and the nature of some friendships. Hall has made an impressive start with an intelligent, gripping drama that also keeps you on the edge of your sear, and hopefully will follow up with another soon.

PASSING opens Friday, Oct. 5, in theaters.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

DETROIT – Review

*A scene from Kathryn Bigelow’s DETROIT. Photo by Francois Duhamel. Courtesy of Annapurna Pictures (c)*

In DETROIT, director Kathryn Bigelow spotlights the civil unrest that shook Detroit in the summer of 1967, and particularly the infamous events that took place at the Algiers Motel, when police abused a group of mostly black men and killed three. One would have hoped that 50 years on, we would be looking back those events and noting how far we have come. Sadly, that is not the case.

The award-winning director of THE HURT LOCKER and ZERO DARK THIRTY tackles an event that took place 50 years ago yet seems timely now, in the light of Michael Brown and Ferguson, and other recent incidents of police violence and public outrage. It is certainly a worthy subject but the film itself has some flaws. Like in ZERO DARK THIRTY, Bigelow takes awhile to bring the subject into focus, spending a long time painting a picture of the unrest in the city before settling down to tell the story of what happened in the Algiers Motel.

The year 1967 was a time of high tensions, with growing anger over the escalating Vietnam War and simmering resentment among African-Americans in poor urban areas over decades of racial injustice and socioeconomic repression. The incident that lit the fire in Detroit was a raid on an illegal after-hours club. As police loaded club patrons into paddy wagons, they could feel the growing anger of a gathering crowd. Looting broke out and soon the city was engulfed in a wave of anger and violence. Over two days of unrest, the National Guard were mobilized to help Detroit police and Michigan troopers restore order. In this heated atmosphere, reports of gun fire near a National Guard staging area put the focus on the Algiers Motel’s annex, where police engaged in a brutal and illegal interrogation of Motel guests.

Bigelow makes the incident in the Algiers Motel the narrative focus but first sets the stage by establishing what was happening in Detroit that summer. Bigelow uses a combination of scenes recreating the events in the streets and actual archival footage and news reports to create a striking portrait of the civil unrest. In doing so, the director introduces a number of characters. While this prologue gives a much stronger sense of the shocking historic events, audiences are left wondering about the film’s main characters and its narrative direction.

Eventually, Bigelow brings together several of these characters, including a racist white cop (Will Poulter, THE REVENANT) who has few qualms about breaking rules, an African-American security guard (John Boyega, STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS) trying to protect a store from looters, and an ambitious musician (Algee Smith, ARMY WIVES) poised for stardom. The cast also includes Anthony Mackie as a just-returned Vietnam vet and John Krasinski as a police investigator.

Like ZERO DARK THIRTY, the film aims to place the audience in the center of events. It presents a recreation of events in the Algiers Motel, based on historical records and the memories of still-living participants, but exactly what happened at the Algiers Motel cannot be completely known.

After several days of riots and unrest, and reports of snipers, the reports of gun fire bring Detroit police and Michigan National Guard to the motel annex, along with security guard Dismukes, who had been bring coffee to the guard as a friendly gesture. Dismukes goes along hoping to be a calming influence, but finds himself caught up in events. As the Detroit police ramp up efforts to force a confession from anyone, the National Guard withdraw, not wanting to be caught up in a racial incident, rather than taking steps to stop it.

The sense of actually being there that the film creates makes the violent, shocking events an intense, frightening experience. The dramatic tension is certainly high throughout the film, and several of the actors deliver strong performances, notably Boyega as security guard Dismukes, who tries to deescalate tensions, and Poulter in the unenviable role as the racist cop Kraus.

One of the most moving stories is that of singer Larry Reed, played by Algee Smith. As the lead singer of The Dramatics, his shot at stardom is interrupted when rioting outside the Apollo cause police to evacuate the theater just as the group is taking the stage. Caught in the turmoil outside, Reed and his friend Fred Temple (Jacob Lattimore) take refuge in the Algiers Motel, which is packed, and find themselves in the motel’s annex, where the fateful events take place. Still the film’s structure leaves the actors little room to work and we learn little about the characters we are watching.

The film takes us past the horrendous events in the Algiers to the shocking follow-up, as some of the people involved are put on trial. The police violence and trial sequence will feel all too familiar in light of recent events.

DETROIT offers a remarkable portrait of an event 50 years ago, famous then but largely forgotten now. While the history lesson is admirable, the disturbing part is seeing the same police abuses then as now – perhaps even worse now, given the militarization of police forces on display during the Ferguson unrest. The film raises important questions, and one has to wonder if it is time, at last, we rethink how we train police, if we hope to see history stop repeating itself in this matter. Whether Bigelow’s DETROIT will spark that conversation remains to be seen.

RATING: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

Top Ten Tuesday – Top Ten White People Doing The Right Thing

I think everyone in this country should be aware by now that our race relations are at an all time low. It seems every time we hear the news another black citizen has been shot by the police or police have been shot by someone angry about these shootings. It cannot continue. We as a nation cannot keep going down this road.

I have always sympathized with Black Americans. In fact as a Scot and Irish American I have always sympathized with anyone who ever got pushed around, starting with Native Americans, Asians, Jewish immigrants, women of any ethnic group, Hispanics from any country.

I also sympathize with the people who are tasked with law enforcement. It’s a tough job. I had some training in that area. A couple of years ago I was hired by a Security company and was trained in unarmed, and armed, uniformed security. I surprised myself by shooting very well at the gun range to get qualified to carry a firearm. But it was not a good fit. That gun hung heavy on my belt. As soon as I started wearing that security guard uniform I started getting feedback, negative feedback. The uniforms I was issued could never have been mistaken for real law enforcement. But I got negative feedback anyway, lots of it.

So I have always been emotionally effected anytime I see a white person doing the right thing in a movie towards a person of another ethnic group, including Black Americans, Native Americans or any other group.

Here are ten of my favorite such moments, although Hollywood has included many such scenes in many movies.

Red Tails 2012

The true story of the Tuskegee Airmen, black pilots with college degrees (there weren’t many in the 1930s and 40s) who trained to be fighter pilots during World War II. The USA needed all the help they could get in World War II, and the Government, and the military, reluctantly, very reluctantly allowed Black Americans to train in all the services, including being pilots in what was then called the Army Air Corp and later the Army Air Force. These pilots, it has been said, fought a war on two fronts, first against the Germans, on whom they unleashed all hell due to their frustration at living in a segregated country, and also against the white Military establishment who was, mostly, convinced that Blacks could not fly and shoot a weapon at the same time. The bigots were proved wrong, the Tuskegee Airmen, also known as Red Tails due to the distinctive markings on their planes, had the best record of any fighter group in the War. They never lost a bomber, which was their task as a fighter squadron, to protect bombers on their runs into Germany, their record was impeccable and they were highly decorated.

In one heart wrenching scene they are approached in the street by a white pilot, who calls them “colored boys” the Red Tails expect a fight, instead the white pilot renders them some respect, including a hand salute and invites them into a bar for a drink. The tension level rises in that bar but it is left unspoken that the Red Tails are there at a white officer’s invitation. Oh so briefly the color line is forgotten as white and black pilots, fighting the same war, have a drink and discuss their role in the biggest combat event in history.

The Tuskegee Airmen correct the use of the term “colored boys” and state that they prefer Negro. One of the black pilots advises the whites that white people “turn red when they are angry, green with envy or yellow when cowardly and have the nerve to call us colored people!”

The Tuskegee Airmen were so good at their task the bomber pilots asked for them to cover their back on bombing runs, the highest compliment I can think of.

My Favorite Year 1982

In one of the best comedies from the 1980s, or any decade really, the early days of television are recreated on a show that appears very much like the Sid Caesar show. A young man named Benji (Mark Linn Baker) a writer and would be comedian and hopeless movie geek (based on Mel Brooks the producer of the movie) is tasked with taking care of the week’s guest star Allan Swann, a washed up alcoholic Movie Star baring more than a passing resemblance to Errol Flynn as well as the actor portraying him, the legendary Peter O’Toole. (Although O’Toole denied he was anything like Alan Swann, yeah, right!)

At one point Swann accompanies Benji to the apartment he shares with his Mother, Lainie Kazan and her second husband, a washed up Filipino boxer named Rookie Carroca,(Ramon Sisson) a character whom no one seems to respect. Until the moment when the Big Shot Movie Star comes swaggering into the little apartment and focuses all his attention on “a lethal bantam weight named Rookie Carroca”! He even pronounces his name right, the only time it happens, it brings tears to my eyes every time! He even recalls a night he saw Rookie take Sailor Donovan down in San Diego in three rounds. No, “in two,” Rookie corrects him.

Swann renders that over the hill Filipino boxer some respect, something he doesn’t seem to have received since the night “Manny Serpa turned him into guava jelly at Madison Square Garden.”

Trust me on this, Filipinos are good people, I served with a good many of them during my time in the Navy (there he goes again!) And we don’t see many of them in our movies, and that is a shame, but what a great moment!

42 2013

The true story of Jackie Robinson, the first black baseball player to get into the major leagues, this story is all about trying to get past skin color. Robinson played himself in The Jackie Robinson Story in 1950, a pretty good version on its own. In 42 Chadwick Boseman gives an incredible performance as a man who was tasked with “not fighting back” when every vile racial insult was hurled at him daily, probably hourly.

Many of his own team mates did not want him there, at first. It is a powerful moment when Pee Wee Reese (Lucas Black) puts his arm around Robinson in front of a stadium full of Redneck Crackers shouting every kind of abuse. Captured in a famous photograph it is a great moment.

Robinson is so good at the game that eventually the other players come around to respecting the rookie who broke the color line.

But much more heartbreaking is the moment when Robinson and his wife (Nicole Beharie) are approached on the street by one Redneck looking character (William Flaman) who ominously advises that he “has something to say” to Robinson. He then states that he “is pulling for you. You got the goods and any man with the goods deserves a fair chance. And a lot of people around here feel the same way I do!”

He even tips his cap to Mrs. Robinson as he walks away leaving Robinson and his wife looking as if they cannot believe what just happened, for that matter neither can we!

The Magnificent Seven 1960

An American remake of a Kurosawa masterpiece (Seven Samurai) The Magnificent Seven is pretty damn good in its own right. A once in a lifetime cast including Yul Brynner, James Coburn, Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson team up into a group of seven gunfighters who stand up for a village of Mexican campesinos who get raided periodically by a group of bandits led of Eli Wallach.

The Magnificent Seven is one of the great western’s in movie history, still a hell of a good show and has one of the best, most epic soundtracks ever, by the great Elmer Bernstein. All the actors are good, you expect good work from Brynner and McQueen, Charles Bronson and James Coburn but this may be Robert Vaughn’s best performance ever. But it’s Brad Dexter, of all people, who steals the whole show, wraps it around his gun hand and sticks it in his hip pocket in his death scene.

As good a Western adventure as The Magnificent Seven is it’s the idea of a small group of Anglo Americans standing up for a village of dirt poor Mexicans that makes it really something special. These guys are Magnificent and they, and the movie, treat the Mexicans with utmost respect.

What’s Love Got To Do With It? 1993

The crown jewel in movies that feature Nicheren Buddhism (a subject for a different Top Ten List) What’s Love Got To Do With It? tells the true story of how Tina Turner (Angela Bassett) hit rock bottom and put her life back together by chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo (try it some time, it works!)

In a key moment Tina Turner not only gets the courage and strength to fight back against Ike Turner she runs away from him the night they are set to play a gig. She runs off with just the clothes on her back and very little money to a nearby hotel. Visibly beaten she runs in and asks for the manager. One hell of a Red Neck looking character (O’NeaL Compton: Attack of the 50 foot Woman 1993, Nell, Nixon, Deep Impact ) comes to the front desk. Tina explains who she is, that she has very little money but pleads for shelter. Tina, and we the viewers, fully expect to hear this guy say something along the lines of “Get this Negro wench out of my hotel!” Instead, when Tina starts to remove her jewelry to pay for a room he says “Miss Turner, that’s not necessary, don’t worry we’ll take care of you! It would be an honor!”

He tells one of the bell hops to “get Miss Turner a room and a Doctor!” It’s been said that great acting is when you can tell what a character is thinking. Compton (who has made a career out of playing country types, sheriffs, truck drivers and what have you, can be seen clearly thinking “if I ever get my hands on Ike Turner!” You can feel the rage, Compton is on screen for all of three minutes but this simple act of kindness by a white man towards a black rhythm and blues singer leaves a lasting impression. This was the turning point in Tina Turner’s life. And a great illustration of how Nicheren Buddhism can change a person’s life for the better. Check out SGI-USA on line if you want to learn more.

Invictus 2009

Invictus is a movie full of white people, living in a country famous for its official racist attitudes, pulling their heads out of their ass and doing the right thing.

Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) spent most of his life in prison in South Africa, because he did not want to live under South Africa’s miserable system of “apartheid” , which is actually pronounced “apart hate”. South Africa has a white minority, mostly Dutch, some English and Germans who kept the black majority, Native Africans, as a second class of servants and living in dire poverty.

After the end of apartheid and Black South Africans gained full citizenship Nelson Mandela became the first native Prime Minister of what had been one of the most racist countries on Earth. The first thing he did on being released from prison was to forgive his oppressors. After becoming Prime Minister his dream was a South Africa where all its citizens were on the same page.

The white minority fully expected to be either driven from the country or slaughtered, as happened in the Belgian Congo and other African countries after the end of colonialism. Did not happen, Mandela was more than aware the country could not function without the white minority, they knew the economy, the government, the bureaucracy, the new South Africa needed them.

As a means to bring all its citizens together Mandela asked the South African Rugby team to win the 1995 Rugby World cup. For South African whites Rugby is the national sport, black South Africans supported soccer, what the rest of the world calls football.

Mandela asks Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon) captain of the team to win that cup. Pienaar has his doubts, his team has one black player, the only player black South Africans know and recognize.

The team visits the prison where Mandela spent most o f his life, they visit some of the black townships and view firsthand the wretched poverty.

They vow, as a team, to win that cup. Mandela’s security group enlists, reluctantly, the aid of the white security crew from the previous administration. Slowly but surely, black and white South Africans come to actually know and respect each other.

When the world cup game arrives, against New Zealand’s team, it is exhilarating to see that their team is fully integrated. Well over half the team is native Maoris. Their team does a Maori war dance before the game begins. Like Native Americans, Australian Aborigines or any other Native culture, it is a great honor to dance with the Maori.

In the stands White South African youths cheer when Mandela enters the stadium. Of course South Africa’s team wins, causing a lot of excitement for the whole country, just what Mandela had wanted. And we are excited as well, with the idea that if South Africa can make some effort to overcome its racist past, maybe we can too.

Race 2016

Another true sports story Race details the triumph of Jesse Owens (Stephan James) at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, known as the Nazi Olympics for Hitler’s faith that his Aryan youth athletes would dominate the games. Owens had the same struggles as other Black Americans in this same time period. Other athletes did not want him in the locker rooms, just getting him to the games was a problem. Even some Black Americans did not think he should go to those Olympic Games.

Improbably a German runner Carl ‘Luz’ Long (David Cross) openly befriends Owens in front of stadiums full of National Socialist true believers, Leni Riefenstahl’s documentary cameras (her documentary of these games is well worth seeing) and most wonderfully of all, in front of Uncle Adolf Hitler himself.

Owens put the lie to Nazi ideas of a “master race” and oddly enough Owens did not do so single handed. Other Black American athletes’ went to those games and some of them won medals. NPR did a nice story on that but for simplicities sake, as Hollywood often does, the movie’s focus is on Owens.

Carl Long’s insistence on treating Owens with respect and dignity back fired on him, as you would expect, at the film’s end we find out that Long was “enlisted” in the German Army and died on the Eastern Front.

Cool Runnings 1993

Another Hollywood movie about Black athletes going to the Olympics Cool Runnings is the Disney version (a VERY Disney version) of Jamaica’s unlikely goal of sending a bobsled team to the Winter Olympics in Calgary in 1988.

John Candy is a disgraced coach enlisted to try and get a bobsled team together in a country that has never seen snow. Good casting, by the way, Candy being Canadian would know quite a lot about winter sports.

Overcoming one set of obstacles after another the Jamaicans make it to Calgary, they don’t win any medals but they do manage to finish their run. Of course they are disrespected, wouldn’t you know, by the German team! Although virtually every one at those games, athletes and spectators alike, thought the Jamaicans’ presence very odd indeed.

When they manage to finish their run the German who has given them the most grief insists on shaking hands with one of the team and declaring “you did damn good Jamaica! We see you in four years, yah?”

I have worked with Jamaicans’ and have asked them about this movie, every one of them told me the same thing, virtually none of the movie is accurate about what happened, but they appreciate that the movie exists, at all! They also appreciate that Disney thought enough of the film to have its world premier in Kingston, Jamaica.

Schindler’s List 1993

The great epic of one white man doing the right thing, Oscar Schindler made a lot of money off the Nazis during WWII and at the same time saved the lives of a great many Jewish people who were in line for the gas chambers. One of many masterpieces on Steven Spielberg’s resume and filmed in immaculate black and white Schindler’s List is tough to watch, I have spent my life trying to get my head around the Holocaust, ever since I read the Trial of Adolf Eichmann when I was 12 years old.

And what a pity that there are some people who insist on denying it ever happened, despite museums full of evidence that it most assuredly did happen. When I was working as a security guard a couple of years ago I started at the St. Petersburg Holocaust museum and spent my first day touring the museum just to get the feel of the place. My museum habit has always been to read as much of the material posted at each exhibit as possible, since I had all day I read everything. There were many other saviors of lives besides Oscar Schindler. Our Holocaust museum has two walls dedicated to saviors including Raoul Wallenberg.

I would love to see a movie about Mr. Sugihara, a Japanese career diplomat assigned to the Japanese Embassy in Lithuania. A great many Jews managed to get there. Mr. Sugihara defied the Germans and his own government and wrote over 6000 visas by hand which got that many Jews out of Lithuania. His punishment? He was fired and sent home, he died peacefully in Japan in 1986. He is named Among the Righteous by the Israeli government for his actions, the only Japanese who is so honored. He deserves his own movie, as much as Oscar Schindler did.

Cookie’s Fortune 1999

Robert Altman has many masterpiece films in his career. Cookie’s Fortune was one of his last and best. A rich white woman, Jewel Mae “ Cookie” Orcutt (Patricia Neal) in a small Mississippi town commits suicide, for reasons of her own a relative(Glenn Close) wants it to look like murder. The only possible suspect is a black man, Willis Richland (Charles S Dutton). The only problem? None of the white people in town can believe he did it, not the Sheriff, not his deputies, nobody. All of the white people in town come to this man’s defense, and it’s believable! In the modern day south it’s easy to imagine such a thing happening. Not so long ago the black citizen may have gotten lynched just on a rumor of wrongdoing.

Especially fun is that Willis is, reluctantly, put into a cell, and the door is left open, local law enforcement knows he is not going anywhere. The white people in town bring him a tv, a comfy chair, homemade goodies, all very funny but also, again, it very well could happen.

I have to make several honorable mentions. Driving Miss Daisy 1989 for showing the friendship between a cranky old Jewish woman and her black driver and how they come to depend on each other. The Body Guard 1992 for presenting a romance between a white man and black woman without once mentioning race. Virtually all of John Sayles movies have white people trying to do the right thing especially Brother From Another Planet 1984 and Matewan 1987.

Monster’s Ball 2001 also deserves credit for presenting an interracial romance between two damaged people who really do need each other. Although I have talked about this movie with black friends who point out how easy it would be to fall for a black woman, who is Halle Barry! Also Green Mile 1999 for presenting a whole crew of white people trying to do the right thing for a black man condemned to “walk the green mile.” I like the movie but will always feel that a man like John Coffey, with what he is accused of, would have never went to trial in the 1930s, he would have been lynched on the spot.

And I have to mention Black Snake Moan 2006 a movie with the audacity to suggest that White people might actually learn something, especially life lessons, from Black people! Featuring an incredible performance from Samuel L Jackson (we expect no less at this point) Christina Ricci truly is amazing as about the nastiest little skank you could ever imagine, who somehow is still sympathetic and, yes, lovable. The music is great too.

In television a groundbreaking series was I Spy 1965 – 1968 which presented a duo of a black and white man functioning as a team and again, without making a big deal of race, at Bill Cosby’s request. Also Star Trek, which presented a multicultural crew of an intergalactic star ship, working in close quarters, in deep space, with no mention of race. This during the 1960s when race was very much a hot button issue.

I remember very well the civil rights era, I have always sympathized. I have told immigrants to this country my personal feelings about Black Americans, they are Americans, with all the rights of citizenship. And we are lucky to have them, for at least three major reasons. I am not a sports fan but obviously our sports teams are the best because of black athletes. American music is the best in the world, because of black musicians; I don’t want to think about a world without Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, John Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix or Niki Minaj. And the American sense of humor is both Black and Jewish. Some of the greatest comedians we have ever had come from both groups.

And they are just as good at the jobs all of us do, I have worked with Black police, administrators, machine operators, call center representatives, every job I have ever had I have worked with black people who do the job as well as anybody.

To sum up I thought we were finally getting beyond all this racial stuff that has plagued our country from the very beginning. I thought the election of Barack Obama to the Office of the President meant we were finally moving forward, no we took two steps, maybe more, back.

We are sliding down a very slippery slope. We very much need to learn to live with each other, respect each other, and yes, love each other, and I mean everybody, across the board, or we are in deep trouble. We really don’t have any other options.

RACE Tells The Incredible True Story of The First Worldwide Superstar, Jesse Owens

By Gary Salem

Opening in theaters nationwide this Friday, February 19th, is the new film, RACE.

Based on the incredible true story of Jesse Owens, the legendary athletic superstar whose quest to become the greatest track and field athlete in history thrusts him onto the world stage of the 1936 Olympics, where he faces off against Adolf Hitler’s vision of Aryan supremacy. Race is an enthralling film about courage, determination, tolerance, and friendship, and an inspiring drama about one man’s fight to become an Olympic legend.

RACE tracks the journey of James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens (portrayed by Stephan James of Selma). As a student and athlete in Depression-era America, Jesse bears the weight of family expectations, racial tension at his college Ohio State University, and his own high standards for competition.

At Ohio State University, Jesse finds a savvy coach and stalwart friend in Larry Snyder (Jason Sudeikis) – who is unafraid to push the young man to his limits. Bolstered by the love and support of Ruth Solomon (Shanice Banton), with whom he has a young daughter, Jesse’s winning ways in intercollegiate competitions earn him a place on the U.S. Olympics team…

…if there is to be a team going to the 1936 Olympics at all; the American Olympic committee weighs a boycott in protest against Hitler with committee president Jeremiah Mahoney (Academy Award winner William Hurt) and millionaire industrialist Avery Brundage (Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons) debating the issue. Once Brundage prevails with the committee and U.S. participation is confirmed, Jesse enters a new racial and political minefield after he arrives in Berlin with his fellow athletes.

As filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl (Carice van Houten of Game of Thrones) readies her cameras to record the Games under the steely gaze of Nazi officials, Jesse reaffirms his determination to compete with excellence and honor. With the world watching, he will place in sharp relief his own country’s history of racism as well as the Hitler regime’s oppressiveness. Forever defining what an athlete can accomplish, Jesse Owens races into history as an inspiration to millions, then and now.

The director, Stephen Hopkins and the stars of the film, Stephan James and Jason Sudeikis gave thoughtful and thought-provoking answers at the press junket:

Hopkins felt the story had a Forrest Gump quality because Owens just wants to run but he ends up turning the Nazi Olympics into the Jesse Owens Olympics. He said track is ideal for a film because it’s an explosive sport and a race takes only ten seconds. He also addressed the question of “What is he running for?” For himself? Or his country with its institutional racism that forced him to sail to Germany in steerage while white athletes traveled in first class?

Hopkins also talked about how the 1936 Olympics were the first corporate branding of a sporting event that originated the modern games we know today. The Nazis invented the opening ceremony with a torch relay and release of doves. They filmed everything with the intention of proving the Aryan race was superior and instead turned a black athlete into the world’s first worldwide superstar.

During breaks while filming Selma, Stephan trained extensively to learn Owen’s running style and spent a lot of time with Owens’ daughters who were instrumental in getting the film made. Although he felt a little intimidated playing an iconic, larger-than-life figure, he wanted to help them carry on their father’s legacy as a man, a father and a humanitarian whose love of his sport made a huge impact on the world.

Jason said the best information he had about Larry Snyder was a quote from Jesse Owens in which he said Snyder was an “accidental non-racist” who believed athletic performance and hard work were the only things that mattered. Snyder’s refusal to judge people based on the color of their skin was his way of dealing with societal pressure and that indirectly sparked a new dialogue about segregation in America.

The connection between Owens and Snyder is a crucial part of the story and Jason said drama and comedy are the same because regardless of the situation, you have to make it feel real and honest. He knew he was involved in telling this “amazing…hopeful…international human story” because the film was independently financed. The major studios were not interested in a complicated period piece about sports featuring a young, unknown actor. He also shared a fun fact: He had his first experience in a period film when his family played extras in the Paul Newman-Joanne Woodward film Mr. and Mrs. Bridge.

Visit the movie’s official site: racethefilm.com

Purchase tickets HERE.

This Week’s WAMG Podcast – THE WITCH, ZOOLANDER 2, Burt Reynolds, and More!

This week’s episode of our podcast WE ARE MOVIE GEEKS The Show is up! Hear WAMG’s Michelle McCue, Jim Batts and Tom Stockman discuss the weekend box office. We’ll review THE WITCH, RACE, ZOOLANDER 2, HOW TO BE SINGLE, and WHERE TO INVADE NEXT. We’ll preview RISEN and take a look at the newly-announced BAFTA and Writers Guild Awards, and then we’ll help celebrate Burt Reynolds’ 80th birthday by discussing our favorite Burt movies.

Here’s this week’s show. Have a listen:

Win Passes To The Advance Screening Of RACE In St. Louis

Jesse Owens’ quest to become the greatest track and field athlete in history thrusts him onto the world stage of the 1936 Olympics, where he faces off against Adolf Hitler’s vision of Aryan supremacy.

Watch Jesse Owens make his record-breaking run for the Gold in new clips from Focus Features’ RACE.

Starring Stephan James, Jason Sudeikis, Jeremy Irons, Carice van Houten, Shanice Banton, and William Hurt, the incredible true story of Gold Medal Champion Jesse Owens opens in theaters nationwide Friday, February 19.

WAMG invites you to enter for a chance to win a pass (Good for 2) to the advance screening of RACE on Tuesday, February 16 at 7PM in the St. Louis area.

We will contact the winners by email.

Answer the following:

How many medals have US athletes won during the Olympic Summer Games ?

2508
2399
2267

TO ENTER, ADD YOUR NAME, ANSWER AND EMAIL IN OUR COMMENTS SECTION BELOW.

OFFICIAL RULES:

1. YOU MUST BE IN THE ST. LOUIS AREA THE DAY OF THE SCREENING.

2. A pass does not guarantee a seat at a screening. Seating is on a first-come, first served basis. The theater is overbooked to assure a full house. The theater is not responsible for overbooking.

3. No purchase necessary

Rated PG-13.

Visit the film’s official site: racethefilm.com

Aloe Blacc Releases “Let The Games Begin” From RACE Movie

Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter Aloe Blacc releases “Let The Games Begin (From RACE)” today. The song is available now on XIX Recordings/Interscope Records and is available for digital download and streaming via digital subscription services.

“Let The Games Begin (From RACE)” is featured in the new Focus Features movie RACE and on RACE – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Album. Also with new music by Academy Award-winning composer Rachel Portman, RACE-Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Album will be released February 19th on Back Lot Music.

Catch Aloe Blacc performing “Let The Games Begin (From RACE)” when he headlines a free Opening Night concert at Super Bowl City on Monday, Feb. 1 at 6 p.m. PT. Blacc’s performance will be televised in the SAP Center in San Jose, Ca, as part of Super Bowl Opening Night Fueled by Gatorade and shown on the NFL Network and streamed at www.nfl.com. For more information click here.

RACE will be released February 19th nationwide by Focus Features. Based on the incredible true story of Jesse Owens, the legendary athletic superstar whose quest to become the greatest track and field athlete in history thrusts him onto the world stage of the 1936 Olympics, where he faces off against Adolf Hitler’s vision of Aryan supremacy. MPAA-rated PG-13, RACE is an enthralling film about courage, determination, tolerance, and friendship, and an inspiring drama about one man’s fight to become an Olympic legend.

The film stars Stephan James (“Selma”) as Jesse Owens, Jason Sudeikis, Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons, Carice van Houten, Shanice Banton, and Academy Award winner William Hurt. The film is directed by Stephen Hopkins and written by Joe Shrapnel & Anna Waterhouse.

Aloe Blacc released his major-label debut album Lift Your Spirit March 11th, 2014 on XIX Recordings/Interscope Records where it debuted at #4 on the Billboard Top 200 chart. The set followed up Blacc’s collaboration as vocalist and co-writer on well-known DJ/producer Avicii’s track “Wake Me Up,” a song that hit the Top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on its Hot Dance Club Songs and Dance/Electronic Songs charts, as well as topping charts in more than 100 countries. Blacc’s single “The Man” topped the charts with more than 2.7 million singles sold and Lift Your Spirit received a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Album.

To learn more about Aloe Blacc, visit www.aloeblacc.com and follow him on Twitter (@aloeblacc).

Aloe Blacc “Let The Games Begin (From RACE)”

iTunes: http://smarturl.it/LetTheGamesBegin

Apple Music: http://smarturl.it/LetTheGamesBeginAP

GooglePlay: http://smarturl.it/LetTheGamesBeginGP
Amazon: http://smarturl.it/LetTheGamesBeginAMZ

Spotify: http://smarturl.it/LetTheGamesBeginSP

First Look At Stephan James As Jesse Owens In RACE Movie Poster

Focus Features has released the new poster for their upcoming film, RACE.

Based on the incredible true story of Gold Medal Champion Jesse Owens (Stephan James), this inspiring film takes you on Jesse Owens’ courageous journey to become the greatest track and field athlete in history, while facing off against Adolf Hitler’s vision of Aryan supremacy during the 1936 Olympics.

Owens won 4 gold medals in the 100m race, the 200m race, the long jump, and the 4x100m relay team at the Games of the XI Olympiad.

The cast includes Stephan James, Jason Sudeikis, Jeremy Irons, Carice van Houten, Shanice Banton and William Hurt.

RACE opens nationwide in theaters on February 19, 2016.

The movie will be released ahead of the 2016 Summer Olympics which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from Friday, August 5 ending on Sunday, August 21st.

Visit the movie’s official site: www.focusfeatures.com/race

Stephan James, Jason Sudeikis, Jeremy Irons And William Hurt Star In RACE Trailer

Here’s a first look at director Stephen Hopkins’ RACE. Based on the incredible true story of Jesse Owens, the legendary athletic superstar whose quest to become the greatest track and field athlete in history thrusts him onto the world stage of the 1936 Olympics, where he faces off against Adolf Hitler’s vision of Aryan supremacy.

The cast includes Stephan James, Jason Sudeikis, Jeremy Irons, Carice van Houten, Shanice Banton and William Hurt.

Focus Features will release the movie on February 19, 2016.

Yahoo! Movies

According to Biography, he captured four gold medals (the 100 meter, the long jump, the 200 meter and the 400-meter relay), and broke two Olympic records along the way. Owens record for the world broad jump would last 25 years until being broken by Olympian Irvin Roberson in 1960.

While Owens helped the U.S. triumph at the games, his return home was not met with the kind of fanfare one might expect. President Franklin D. Roosevelt failed to meet with Owens and congratulate him, as was typical for champions. The athlete wouldn’t be properly recognized until 1976, when President Gerald Ford awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Visit the film’s Official Site

Stephan James Is Olympian Jesse Owens In RACE Movie Teaser

In 1936, Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the Berlin Olympic Games. His long jump world record stood for 25 years.

Now comes the new film RACE.

Check out this preview for the upcoming film and watch the full-length trailer over on Yahoo! Movies on Wednesday, October 14th at 10AM pst.

RACE is an enthralling film about courage, determination, tolerance, and friendship, and an inspiring drama about one man’s fight to become an Olympic legend. It was the African-American participants who helped cement America’s success at the Olympic Games. In all, the United States won 11 gold medals, six of them by black athletes.

Directed by Stephen Hopkins and written by Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse, the film stars Stephan James, Jason Sudeikis, Jeremy Irons, Carice van Houten, Shanice Banton and William Hurt.

RACE releases nationwide from Focus Features on February 19, 2016.

Visit the film’s Official Site

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