SON OF THE SOUTH

Lucas Till     Lex Scott Davis     Lucy Hale     Julia Ormond

Brian Dennehy     Cedrick the Entertainer    Shamier Anderson

 

     This is a movie like many we’ve seen before about the blatant racism of the Deep South during the time of the early civil rights movement in the early 1960’s. It’s based on the memoir (The Wrong Side of Murder Creek:  A White Southerner in the Freedom Movement) of Bob Zellner a young man at the time who lived in Alabama and was bound for college in the north, but kept being drawn into the movement by activists and circumstances.  He’s an older man by the time of movie preparation, but was consulted on the script by Barry Alexander Brown and Constance Curry (co-author of the book).

     Bob Zellner (played by Lucas Till in a fine performance) simply wants to visit a local Methodist Church for information for his high school essay, and ropes in a few of his friends to go with him.  He seems very neutral, having been brought up by a father who left the KuKluxKlan after a sojourn in Russia where he became acquainted with Negroes and a grandfather (Dennehy) still wholly committed to the Klan, and Bob is now ready to make up his own mind.  

   But in the Sixties, it was almost impossible to remain neutral; either one was for or against negroes, and it’s chilling to listen to the hatred toward black people spewed out by southerners in the film.  We see some of Bob’s friends gradually fade away as he makes new friendships that are more meaningful for him.

     As a result, in his openness to new ideas and people, Bob is transformed, although not without some pain and suffering.  The movie does a good job in illustrating the divisions among family and friends when race becomes such an urgent issue.  It’s odd for our ears to hear “you can’t kill him because he’s [white and] from Alabama!” and to see the division among life-long southerners when confronted with this dilemma.

     Son of the South is not quite successful in at least a couple of ways.  One is that it is more of a revisiting of an issue rather than something new that we’ve never seen before in so many films (Just Mercy, Selma, Loving, Get Out, Fruitvale Station, e.g.).  (Not that I’m saying we shouldn’t be reminded; it’s still moving to see the film.)  The other is related to the script and to the actors not sounding like real people.  At times, it’s like listening to actors reading a script in the first round. The experienced actors have no problem, but others clearly sound like they are reading for an audition.  

A film to remind us of the struggles and heartbreaks activists endured in the Civil Rights Movement.

Grade:  C+                                    By Donna R. Copeland

THE FIRST PURGE

Y’lan Noel     Lex Scott Davis     Marisa Tomei     Joivan Wade     Patch Darragh

       How a whole franchise could be built on a false premise is more than a mystery to me; it’s exasperating.  The premise is that stored up anger can be released during sanctioned violence—and it will be effective within a 12-hour time period.  Oh, sure!  

     Apparently, a psychologist, Dr. Updale (Tomei), has dreamed up this “experiment” (which, incidentally, would not be approved by any review board in the country, a requirement for all research protocols) as a way to demonstrate that such an opportunity would lower the crime rate to less than 1% for the rest of the year.  The filmmakers apparently think this is possible, because, initially, when the purge period starts, most people are celebrating at “purge parties.”  

     But that would make this boring, so James DeMonaco (writer and producer in this version and director of the previous three) inserts dirty tricks by having the “chief of staff”, Updale’s supervisor, stack the deck.  Arlo Sabian (Darragh) was hoping the experiment would result in people in poor neighborhoods massacring themselves. He is a member of NFFA (New Founding Fathers of America), which is funding the research that, if successful in their minds, will reduce the number of people needing Federal assistance. When that does not happen, he sends in his recruits to increase the violence, which, of course, will give him points in the NFFA.  

     What are we to make of this film?  On the one hand, it reflects the strong sense of community among people in poor neighborhoods, their solidarity, intelligence, and awareness, and the dual role gangsters have (partly protective, partly exploitive) in their lives.  On the other hand, it plays into fears about “psychology”, “research”, and government that can unjustifiably undermine trust in those areas.  That is the main problem I have with this film.

     The First Purge gets higher marks from me in its social commentary on the solidarity of minority communities, the manipulations of some in power who can swing the tide against them for selfish reasons, and the exquisite bind experienced by drug dealers in their influence for good and ill in their communities (also seen in Moonlight, last year’s Oscar winner).  In First Purge, Staten Island kingpin Dimitri (expertly rendered by Y’lan Noel) is truly a hero, managing to fight off dozens of killers to rescue those closest to him, one of whom is his sweetheart Nya (Davis), who intrigues us with her fierceness in protecting her own.  She has a younger brother Isaiah (deftly played by Wade) briefly seduced into participating in the purge at first.

     This film does not differ enough from its predecessors to continue as a franchise.

A false premise acted out enough already for us to have gotten the message.

Grade:  C-                                    By Donna R. Copeland