Meeting Persephone

I had a completely different movie in mind for this week's 'Friday Flicks' but in light of all of the controversy surrounding the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. I've decided to change direction and bring to light a movie that might shed a bit of light on the subject.

White Man's Burden - 1995 - John Travolta and Harry Belafonte - directed by Desmond Nakano

Disclaimer: I recommend this movie based on subject matter alone as I don't consider it to be a good movie in any sense of the word. There was an opportunity to make a significant statement and this movie fumbled the chance in most of the script as well as plot.

Why am I bringing up this movie at all if I feel the need to start off with a disclaimer? Because they did get some things right and it was done. Those are the things I'm going to focus on here.

What they got right -

The television programming

The dinner party conversation

The neighborhoods and police harrassment

The superiority complexes of the races

The frustration of the lesser race/class

These are subtle things so pay attention to what you see as you see it.

I don't want to explain exactly what the movie is or what they are trying to tackle because I think it might discourage some from seeing it. People don't like to be uncomfortable and this movie will make you uncomfortable because the subtle things will make you squirm. I believe that being uncomfortable opens our eyes and makes room for change, compassion, understanding, and realization. I'd love to see a similar movie done with a better plot and script to really drive home the points that they were trying to make with this one and I'm sure it could be done.

I had my husband watch this movie (he was only able to do it once because it made him that uncomfortable) and when it was over he said, "do you really think things are that way?". It's the optimism and oblivion that most people can contentedly bury themselves in when they don't challenge themselves or what they're familiar with.

So watch it. Don't expect much from it in the way of entertainment because it's more about creating awareness than entertaining the audience. I hate the fact that Belafonte, Travolta, and Kelly Lynch were wasted in this script but without them this movie would have never been seen by anyone.