MOVIE REVIEW: Dear White People

Published Apr 24, 2015

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DEAR WHITE PEOPLE

DIRECTOR: Justin Simien

CAST: Tyler James Williams, Tessa Thompson, Brandon Bell, Dennis Haysbert, Teyonah Parris, Kyle Gallner, Malcolm Barrett

CLASSIFICATION: 16 DLNPSV

RUNNING TIME: 108 minutes

RATING: ****

 

A word-heavy social satire set at a university, this is as much a comment on human nature as it is on the state of race relations in the US. Smart dialogue and three-dimensional characterisation on a template of old-fashioned (chapter-based) film-making plus a soundtrack of classical music make for an engaging film.

In trying to poke fun at race relations and, above all, privilege in the US, this film actually is a whole lot more honest than people would like to admit.

Set at a fictitious Ivy League university, it starts off with a blackface party turned violent and then goes back five weeks to explain what led up to the nationally reported event.

The film tracks four students and how they deal with everyday life as minorities on a predominantly white campus while trying to figure out who they are (this is college life, after all).

The characterisation and how each of the characters change is what keeps your attention even when the film-making method is obvious. Cinematography and editing is top-notch, though.

Anarchic Sam White (Thompson, pictured) is the one who creates the funny but cutting Dear White People university radio show in which she satirically pokes fun at white people for just not getting it. (“Dear white people, this just in: dating a black person to piss off your parents is a form of racism.”)

Lionel Higgins (Williams) is a gay guy with the biggest afro ever who likes Mumford and Sons, Robert Altman and wants to be a writer and struggles to reconcile how people expect him to behave with his interests which are supposedly contrary to being a black dude.

Then there’s Troy Fairbanks (Bell), whose dad has big political plans for him, but who is more interested in writing jokes, while ambitious Coco Conners Parris really wants to be a reality tv star.

Each of them struggles to navigate between what people expect from them and what they want for themselves, and it is all complicated because of stereotypes around race.

While the American student experience is very different to the South African one, there are points of commonality of experience that make you sigh – yes, my hair has also been fondled like that, yes, people really do make jokes about your race at your expense without thinking that maybe it hurts your feelings.

But, an interesting issue the director and scriptwriter hints at is how the black stereotypes are created in the media. It also gives us the dichotomy of showing how racism manifests itself and also how it is glossed right over at the same time. The film never hits you over the head with these messages though, simply putting it out there.

It is smart, funny and provocative without being rude, even if some of the actual events and behaviours depicted are shocking. The film itself is not the shocker, the things it says about how we see each other is the embarrassment.

If you liked Jungle Fever or Do the Right Thing, you will like this.

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