A History of Black Film

In the light and celebration of Black History Month, I’ve put together a small collection out of the vast library of highly-acclaimed African American films.  From Cicely Tyson to Denzel Washington to Spike Lee, I’ve included some of the classic films and mini-series that have come to contribute to my generation and others’ education of the struggles and contributions of Blacks in the past and present.  Now seeing as how there are tons of film to go over that fit rather easily into this category, this assemblage of titles are only a tip of the Black iceberg.

Native Son (1951)

Based on the novel written by Richard Wright this film focuses on a young black poverty stricken man living in 1930s Chicago. He takes a job as a chauffeur to a white family, which takes a turn for the worse when he accidentally kills the teenage daughter of the couple and then tries to cover it up. It stars Wright himself and Gloria Madison.  It was later remade in 1986 starring Victor Love and Matt Dillon.

Malcolm X (1992)

Denzel Washington continued his rise to fame by playing the title character of one the most influential and sometimes questionable civil rights leaders of our time. Directed by Spike Lee, the film also starred Angela Bassett and ran for 202 minutes.

Hotel Rwanda (2004)

Don Cheadle takes on the true-life story of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who took it upon himself to house over a thousand Tutsi refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda.  Sophie Okonedo and Joaquin Phoenix also stars.  The film really takes the audience deep into the goings on of brutal civil wars within Rwanda and opens its eyes as well to the awful genocide in other part of the African continent.

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Friday's Flick Picks

DVD - Unthinkable (2010)



There are terrorist movies and then there are TERRORIST movies.  Unthinkable, in my opinion, falls into the latter.  We’ve all seen the films that have the Islamic-motivated individuals who have done something extreme to prove either a political or personal point at the expense of others.  They are fearless, clever and more than willing to die for their country and beliefs.  This thriller has all of this but it takes it to another level.

 

Steven Arthur Younger (Michael Sheen) or Yusuf Atta Mohammed, which he prefers to be referred as is an American man who has made the conversion to Islam.  He has placed three bombs in three American cities, all set to explode on the same day at the same time.  Yes, and all of them are of the nuclear nature.  He purposely allows himself to be captured by the U.S. government and is then subjected to special forms of "interrogation" by a man called "H" (Samuel L. Jackson). H has been specially hired by the government for his unique skills to deal with these specific kinds of situations.  In addition, an FBI Special Agent, Helen Brody (Carrie-Ann Moss) is requested by H to assist him in extracting the unknown locations of the nuclear bombs from Younger.

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