Dear White People

On a Scale of 1 to 10, with 10 Being the Best

5

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Plot: The story takes place at a prestigious school and focuses on four African American students. The movie talks about the ways that black people are oppressed, how racism still exists, and how black people react to a dominant white culture. I was glad to watch this film as I wanted to learn this perspective. My wish for this film was that it would have been more hard hitting. I was under the impression that the movie was about Sam White's radio show but it ended up being about a racist party at the end of the film. The movie could have been more hard hitting if they could have focused more on day-to-day racist actions than the party at the end.

Characters/Actors of Note:

Tessa Thompson playing Sam White: I think Ms. Thompson did a wonderful job with the character Sam White and found it believable until later (which I will get to). This character was fire and brimstone about equal rights and I loved it. She was the character throughout the film explaining how black people are oppressed at her school (and our everyday lives) and how others reacted to it. Halfway through the film we find out her true nature and how she is so overbearing because she is covering up this truth. This disappointed me as she was such a powerful character at the start. The acting was good the writing was not. 

*Note there were many other characters in this film that were written to demonstrate a point. They seemed flat though and not note worthy.*

Music: The music was new and up-beat. Sometimes it seemed to go well and others I found that it stuck out to the point of distraction. It would make for great music on your own Itunes but perhaps not this film. There was one song that they play repeatedly and I hated that. So it had good music but not fitting.

Cinematography/Camera Work: The definition in the movie was nice and it looked crisp and clean. The problem was the choppiness. The movie would intermediately cut off to a bright colored background with black letters. It drove me NUTS. It took me forever that it is supposed to be chapters from Sam White's book, in fact someone had to explain it to me. These cards also cut-off the flow from the film. So the movie looked choppy and it was probably solely due to these cards.

RECAP: 

Music was excellent as a soundtrack but not fitting for the film. The look of this film was nice except that it was chopped up to bits by those cards. Ms. Thompson was by far the best actress and the others were flat. The biggest flaw was the writing. This film had the chance to hit everyone with the facts that African Americans are facing oppression in small ways almost everyday. That chance fell through when they focused on a racist party and let their leading lady become passive towards the end. I appreciate this movie nonetheless and thought it wasn't too bad. 

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