February 22, 2017
BLACK
HISTORY
“I Am Not Your Negro” uses archival footage of the Civil Rights and
Black Power movements to explore the racial violence that contin-
ues to permeate American culture.
My Top 10 Films of 2016
C ontinued FroM P age 4
"13th" is, in a way, the perfect
companion to "I Am Not Your
Negro," though I definitely don't
recommend seeing them together.
Director and co-writer Ava Du-
Vernay (whose "Selma" topped
my 10-best list in 2014) has as-
sembled a comprehensive cine-
matic case for how mass incarcer-
ation came to be the most recent
iteration of racism and oppression
of black and brown people in the
United States. The sheer volume
of data and voices and analysis
that DuVernay has marshaled to
make this case clear is staggering;
she has enlisted the insights of a
host of experts, including Mi-
chelle Alexander, Angela Davis,
Bryan Stephenson, Henry Louis
Gates, and many others, as well
as abundant news footage and
other evidence to connect the dots
between the economic dilemma
presented by post-Civil War Re-
construction, the lasting impact of
"The Birth of A Nation" in sewing
images of the menacing black man
into our collective consciousness,
the early use of incarceration as a
tool for keeping black people in
subjugation, the crime-scare tac-
tics of the 1970s that manipulated
the electorate into supporting the
drug wars that multiplied the size
of the U.S. prison population far
beyond that of any other country.
The impacts on communities of
color who have lost generations of
their leaders, whose families are
decimated, and who have perma-
nently lost the right to vote is illus-
trated with astounding clarity. In
the end, this is more than the story
of mass incarceration and race in
America; it is a huge chunk of the
truth of American history to which
we have collectively blinded our-
selves. With Peck's film, this is
essential viewing for every Amer-
ican. [Nominated for the Academy
Award for Best Documentary Fea-
ture; on at least 22 other critics'
top 10 lists.]
"Two Trains Runnin'" is,
sadly, the most obscure title on
my list, though it was the best
documentary that I saw at the Full
Frame Documentary Film Festi-
val last April and played for two
nights in Portland last fall. The
very summer -- indeed, the very
weekend -- that Andrew Good-
win, James Chaney, and Michael
Schwerner were murdered by the
police and the Ku Klux Klan, two
other groups of white men, obliv-
ious to the extent of the dangers
afoot in the South, traveled there
in search of two obscure black
country blues singers who had
disappeared into obscurity. Using
interviews, archive footage, and
beautiful animated sequences,
this wonderful film captures their
improbable journeys, illuminates
some important pieces of what
happened during Freedom Sum-
mer, and illustrates the role of mu-
sic in spiritual awakening. Keep
an eye on the film's website and
Facebook page for further screen-
ings and, hopefully, a digital re-
lease; this one is too good to miss.
[Not rated; should have been
nominated for an Academy Award
for Best Documentary Feature.]
“Fences”: Many of us who
love theater have reveled for years
in August Wilson's rich explo-
rations of the African American
experience. Now audiences have
their first shot at seeing his work
on screen, under the very able
direction of Denzel Washington
and with a screenplay written by
Wilson before he died. Wow. The
cast is uniformly phenomenal,
and Wilson has no equal when it
comes to perceptively capturing
the impacts of generational trau-
ma on the lives of ordinary black
folks. As with "Moonlight," this is
deeply empathetic storytelling and
rings with emotional truth. Abso-
lutely as good as it gets. [Rated
PG-13 for thematic elements, lan-
guage, and some suggestive refer-
ences; nominated for, and should
win Academy Awards for Best Ac-
tor (Denzel Washington) and Best
Supporting Actress (Viola Davis);
also received nominations for Best
Picture and Best Adapted Screen-
play (August Wilson); on at least
22 other critics' top 10 lists.]
"Presenting Princess Shaw"
was another of my favorites at Full
C ontinued on P age 14
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