As a film, it's fine, even good. But as a film about racism, it definitely falls short.
The only way I know how to describe the pitfalls of this movie is it tries to "both sides" racism in a way. Sure, Shirley has it bad being a black man in 1960s America but Tony is working class Italian so really they're kinda even.... Yeah, maybe I'm oversimplifying but there's something wrong with the depiction here. Tony is really racist. And, by the end, there's no indication that he's not still racist while simply liking this specific black guy. As for Shirley, it feels like they just made him a snob to give him a character flaw. But it doesn't really work because, you know, being a snob doesn't compare to being super racist.
Look, Viggo and Ali give great performances, the cinematography is good, all of the technical components of the film are well done. But this is a film about a disturbing topic and it just seems surface level. And I think the fact that it won an Oscar for Best Picture shows how understandings of racism continue to be misguided in the US.
Shout by Graham T.BlockedParent2021-05-28T08:16:54Z
As a film, it's fine, even good. But as a film about racism, it definitely falls short.
The only way I know how to describe the pitfalls of this movie is it tries to "both sides" racism in a way. Sure, Shirley has it bad being a black man in 1960s America but Tony is working class Italian so really they're kinda even.... Yeah, maybe I'm oversimplifying but there's something wrong with the depiction here. Tony is really racist. And, by the end, there's no indication that he's not still racist while simply liking this specific black guy. As for Shirley, it feels like they just made him a snob to give him a character flaw. But it doesn't really work because, you know, being a snob doesn't compare to being super racist.
Look, Viggo and Ali give great performances, the cinematography is good, all of the technical components of the film are well done. But this is a film about a disturbing topic and it just seems surface level. And I think the fact that it won an Oscar for Best Picture shows how understandings of racism continue to be misguided in the US.