Movie Analysis.

The 2019 American horror film Us deals with many issues and inspired debate plus curiosity. It was written and directed by Jordan Peele. Peele was involved in Get Out. The film of Us is different than Get Out. The film stars Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex, Elisabeth Moss, and Tim Heidecker. The plot is that the movie shows a black family confronted by their doppelgangers. The movie is very popular and has sold over $174 million worldwide. The movie places itself in 1986. Back then, the young Adelaide Thomas finds a doppelganger of her at a funhouse. She was in a vacation with her parents. In the current day, Adelaide is an adult with her own family in Santa Cruz. Her husband is Gabe Wilson, and they have children. Adelaide has flashbacks of the previous incident, but Gabe wants his wife to ignore those concerns. They vacation at the beach. Later, Jason saw a man dripping with blood from his hands.  The four doppelgangers come to the family’s house in trying to attack them. Adelaide’s double is named Red, who is the leader. The doubles handcuff Adelaide to a table. The family escapes on Gabe’s boat. Gabe Wilson and his family killed the Tyler doubles. Millions of doubles exist, and they say that the U.S. government created them in order to control the public. Yet, the experiment failed, and they or the Tethered were abandoned underground. In the end, the family leaves town. Adelaide thinks back to the night she first met Red in the funhouse, revealing that she is, in fact, one of the Tethered, and had taken Adelaide's place in the surface world; Jason watches her apprehensively and puts his mask back on. As the family drives off, helicopters survey the Tethered joining hands together across the United States. Many people have given different interpretations of the film. Some go back to science fiction, race, and class (in the scene of people trying to find the “American Dream”).  Us is more complex than Get Out, which is a more overt film. Us deals with the issues of class, privilege, race, and the issues of the government combined into one. The reality is that the ultimate enemy is not ourselves. We aren’t our worst enemy. The true enemy is the system of racism and oppression that is global. In the film, the character Red said that they are too “Americans,” but black folks haven’t been treated as true equals in American history. The movie has characters struggling with assimilation into American society where black people globally have been the victims of mental abuse, physical abuse, and racial discrimination. Folks, who are black, shouldn’t ignore their Blackness for the sake of being one with the establishment. Peele is a very smart person to place so many messages in this historic movie. The movie makes us aware that we must always reject the notion that the oppressed are the enemy. The oppressed are the victims of the true enemy. 

BlacKkKlansman is a 2018 movie directed by Spike Lee and written by Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, and Spike Lee. It is based on the 2016 memoir called BlacKkKlansman, which was written by Ron Stallworth. The film stars John David Washington as Stallworth. The film is about a black undercover cop posing as a Klansperson in order to stop a local Klan group. Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, and Topher Grace star in the movie too. It is set in Colorado Springs. The film deals with the life of Ron Stallworth. He was the first black officer of the Colorado Springs Police Department. Co-workers called him racial slurs. He wants to be transferred to do undercover work. He is assigned to infiltrate a local rally where civil rights leader Kwame Ture gives a speech. At the rally, Stallworth meets Patrice Dumas, president of the black student union at Colorado College. While she takes Ture to his hotel, Patrice is stopped by patrolman Andy Landers, a racist officer in Stallworth's precinct, who threatens Ture and gropes Patrice. After the rally, Stallworth is reassigned to the intelligence division. After reading about a local division of the Ku Klux Klan in the newspaper, he calls posing as white and speaks with Walter Breachway, the president of the Colorado Springs chapter. Stallworth recruits his Jewish coworker, Flip Zimmerman, to act as him to meet the Klan members. Zimmerman meets Walter, the more reckless Felix Kendrickson, and Ivanhoe, who cryptically refers to an upcoming attack. Stallworth talks with Grand Wizard David Duke of Louisiana. Zimmerman takes a polygraph test under oath. Stallworth begins dating Patrice, but does not tell her that he is a police officer. After passing information to the Army CID about active duty members, he learns from an FBI agent that two members are personnel stationed at NORAD. Duke visits Colorado Springs for Stallworth's induction into the Klan. Over the real Stallworth's protests, he is assigned to a protection detail for Duke. Once Zimmerman is initiated, masquerading as Stallworth, Felix's wife Connie leaves the ceremony to place a bomb at a civil rights rally. Stallworth realizes her intentions and alerts local police officers. When Connie notices a heavy police presence at the rally, she puts Felix's backup plan into action and plants the bomb at Patrice's house, leaving it under her car when it will not fit into the mailbox. Stallworth tackles her as she tries to flee, but uniformed officers detain and beat him despite his protests that he is working undercover. Connie is arrested. While celebrating the closed case that night, Stallworth wears a hidden microphone and tricks a drunken Landers into bragging about his assault on Patrice. Landers is arrested.  Police Chief Bridges congratulates the team for their success, but he orders them to end their investigation and destroy the records. Stallworth receives a call from Duke, and he reveals to Duke that he is black before hanging up. While Patrice and Stallworth discuss their future, they are interrupted by a knock on the door. Through the window, they see a flaming cross on a hillside surrounded by Klan members. Detective Philip Zimmerman is played by Adam Drive. Patrice Dumas is played by Laura Harrier.

Corrie Hawkins plays Kwame Ture. The film ends with footage from the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia and President Trump's statement afterwards, followed by a shot of an upside-down American Flag fading into black and white. The movie has been shown worldwide. In real life, the identity of Stallworth’s partner is unknown. The actual events take place in 1979. While the first third of the film is relatively accurate, the KKK's bomb plot is inspired by a different case of a real bombing by the KKK. The bombing in the film was a plot device to add dramatic tension. The real chapter that Stallworth and his partner infiltrated was of concern due to some of its members having high-ranking military positions. As a result of the investigation, four members of the US military were reassigned, with Stallworth joking that they were "sent to the North Pole." Another controversy is the filmmaker Boots Riley criticizing the film because of its political views. Riley said that the film was masterfully created, but he felt that Spike Lee omitted much of the real story. Riley wanted to emphasize that the police in many instances are instruments of oppression against black America. Also, Riley said that Stallworth worked for COINTELPRO to stop black revolutionary movements. He feels that Spike Lee wants to picture the cops as heroes. Spike Lee responded in an interview with The Times on August 24, stating that while his films "have been very critical of the police ... I'm never going to say that all police are corrupt, that all police hate people of color.” The truth is that Riley never said that all police are corrupt (or all of them hate people of color). He did say that the police institution in many instances are systematically involved in oppressing members of the black communities for centuries in America. Spike Lee’s BlackKklansman promotes an inclusionary vision. Also, the film attempts to juxtapose Black Power with “white power.” This is incorrect, because Black Power is about independence, love of African liberation, and ownership. White power is about xenophobia, subjugation of non-whites, and racist ideologies. The white savior motif is not just found in this film, but it is common in other movies throughout the ages. Obviously, racism is a nefarious system that causes a minority to benefit at the expense of the black collective. Change isn’t about loosening our chains to make oppression more malleable. Real change is about to promote uncompromising Blackness in our lives (in public and in private). Many people are oppressed worldwide, but black people are the most hated people among all of the human family. That reality must be realized if real change is to occur.

“Sorry to Bother You” is a very historic film. It described a diversity of issues from criticizing capitalism overtly to questioning the conformity of some many people who seek employment. The movie was directed by Boots Riley. It has actors and actresses by the names of: Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Jermaine Fowler, Omari Hardwick, Terry Crews, Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Danny Glover, Steven Yeun, and Armie Hammer. The movie is about a black telemarketer. He uses a stereotypical “white” accent to try to succeed at his job. He becomes part of the corporate world and must decide to either join his activists’ friends to organize labor or accept being a puppet for corporate power. The major actor in the film is named Cassius Green (he is played by Lakeith Stanfield).  His telemarketing job is called Regal/View. At first, he has difficulty in dealing with customers. An older co-worker wants his to use a “white” voice. Cash soon excels at his job. Squeeze is another co-worker. He is played by Steven Yeun. Squeeze creates a union. He wants to recruit Cash, Detroit (or Cash’s girlfriend), and their friend Sal. Cash participates in a protest. He thinks that he will soon get fired. Later, he is just promoted to an elite Power Caller position. Cash later finds out that RegalView is corrupt. The business sells arms secretly and uses unpaid human labor from the corporation Worry Free. Cash has doubts about his occupation. His life changes. He buys a car and pays off his uncle’s home. Yet, he and Detroit have a deteriorated relationship. Cash doesn’t work in the union anyone. One protester hits him with a can of soda when Cash crosses the union’s picket union. He becomes an internet meme. Cash goes into a party by the Worry Free CEO Steve Lift. Cash snorts a powered substance. He sees a half-horse, half-human hybrid asking for help. Cash knew that the corporation of Lift makes hybrids. Cash refuses a $100 million offer to become an equisapien and act as a false revolutionary figure to keep the employees in line. Cash tries to stop Worry Free. He fails. Cash apologizes to Squeeze, Sal, and Detroit, and joins the union in a final stand against Regal View.

Cash uses a security code from the equisapiens video to break into Lift's home. He goes to the picket line, where the police start a riot and knock him out. The equisapiens overpower the police and free Cash. Detroit and Cash reconcile and move back into his uncle's garage, but Cash starts to grow horse nostrils. Fully transformed, he leads a mob of equisapiens to Lift's house and breaks down the door. Riley wanted to discuss about telemarketing and other political issues. Riley wants to criticize capitalism too. He also wanted Armie Hammer’s character of Steve Lift to be representative of new capitalism (that is the same exploitation of capitalism but with a smiling face attached to it). The film mixes political satire and humor. Of course, there are racial aspects to the film. Ib real life, some black people lust after corporate power and white acceptance so much that they submit to their own black dehumanization. The movie shows a non-black person of color as the activist. Squeeze is slick. He issues pronouncements, but wants a seat at the corporate table. He also goes and flirts with Detroit behind Cassius Green’s back. Detroit’s character talks about Africa. The irony of the film is that Cassius Green has more independent thinking and more freedom before having his corporate job than afterwards.  In essence, every character in the move is filled with contradictions. Green is the one who goes about the wrong way to seek freedom. Freedom is not just an individual affair. Black collective freedom is a necessity. The movie is a warning to any person that our Blackness shouldn’t be up for self. Black humanity should be free within the confines of independence, integrity, and truth.


By Timothy