May 22, 2019
Page 11
Two Films Not to Miss
C ontinued from P age 7
land and I almost missed it. I lit-
erally saw its last show and chose
it over two other films headed out
of town because it told a story of
three generations of black wom-
en. (When do we get that oppor-
tunity?) This slow burn of a film
paid off in the end—-and what a
pay-off! I’m going to offer some
slight spoilers to intrigue you
enough to give this film a chance.
It’s the story of Ruth (the ev-
er-skilled Gugu Mbatha-Raw), a
woman on the run in a dystopian
future in which America has gone
eight years without rain. This
film carries showing-not-telling
to some extremes, so it is awhile
before we understand that she is
on the run because of seizures
that she feels coming on but can’t
control, and which provoke earth-
quakes. She is on the run because
she’s dangerous, and also because
the government would like to ex-
ploit her. Fellow women of color,
does this provoke any sense of
recognition?
She returns home to her mother
(an excellent Lorraine Toussaint)
and a daughter whom she left be-
hind for her own safety. And we
come to realize eventually that
superpowers run in this family
of black women, but they have
learned to hide them because the
world is not safe for them if peo-
ple know—and some, like Ruth
find them difficult to manage.
(Again, fellow women of color,
do you feel a stir of recognition?)
How they have handled their
power, and a shift that happens
in the end in recognition of how
much the world needs them, is the
payoff that made this film exactly
what I needed on the hard day I
watched it.
I later heard an interview in
which Mbatha-Raw indicated
that the director, Julia Hart, who
wrote the screenplay with her
husband, Jordan Horowitz, had
not written these characters spe-
cifically as black women. I’m not
sure what to make of that; to me
the story derives its resonance
from the fact they are black, so
who knows how that all shook
out and what angels guided Hart
to the choices she ultimately
made. All I know is, benefit-
ting from excellent performanc-
es from two black women who
perhaps carry a lot of knowing
in their bones, this film con-
veys some things that are deep-
ly true about the powerful gifts
that women of color bring to the
world, the dangers and struggles
they face in bearing those gifts,
and the stakes for all of us in
them finding a way to share their
power. Watch for it to stream on-
line, hopefully soon.
Darleen Ortega is a judge on
the Oregon Court of Appeals and
the first woman of color to serve
in that capacity. Her movie review
column Opinionated Judge ap-
pears regularly in The Portland
Observer. Find her movie blog at
opinionatedjudge.blogspot.com.
Coach a True Hero
C ontinued from P age 4
Portland Chief Danielle Out-
law also praised Lowe for his
bravery.
Parkrose was evacuated and
a nearby middle school was on
lockdown for several hours as the
investigation unfolded. The high
school students were bused to
a nearby parking lot where they
were reunited with their parents.
That was a point of relief,
Parkrose High School freshman
Justine Smith told the Portland
Observer.
She added that though the inci-
dent was “terrifying,” she praised
the school for “doing an amazing
job supporting us.”
“All the teachers have been
there for us and asked us if we
needed to take a break or if we
needed to just vent,” Smith said,
as she was leaving school Mon-
day.
This week the school arranged
for a team of counselor support
for high school staff and students,
made similar arrangements for
nearby Parkrose Middle School
staff and students, arranged for
specific support for students who
were in the building that was di-
rectly impacted by the incident,
and increased security for pro-
tocol--not due to an additional
threat--Parkrose Superintendent
Michael Lopes Serrao said in a
letter to Parkrose families Mon-
day.
“There are so many people
who deserve our deepest grati-
tude. The reports of staff heroism
are true and many staff stepped
up and put their lives in front of
our students to keep them safe,”
he added.
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