The chemistry between the two leads, Washington (son of Oscar winner Denzel Washington) and Driver is spot on and their scenes together natural and organic. Although the movie is more about race than anti-Semitism, white supremacists hate both and this creates a bond between the two. Ironically, while the outward struggle of Stallworth (Washington) against the Klan, and a prejudiced police department seems greater, yet his acceptance of who he is and is belief in himself never wavers, even when he is sent to spy on his own people –the Black Panthers Organisation. Zimmerman (Driver) on the other hand is not that comfortable with his Jewish ethnicity or as he himself confesses that he never thought about it much, this is not a character flaw of Zimmerman, but a reflection of the American society were anti-Semitism although existing has always taken a back seat to racial prejudice. Stallworth never had the option of ‘not thinking about his race’; he couldn’t hide the fact that he was black, so instead he chooses to embrace who he is. If only in this, he is better off than Zimmerman, who in the end realises that he too will always be regarded as different, no matter how “American” he believes himself to be.
In the end this movie set in the 70s, is relevant in Trump’s America. “Set over 30 years ago, the potent relevancy of this film is in how the language it mocks is now part of the national discourse, emanating out of the White House itself,” writer Alci Rengifo.
Published in Daily Times, December 22nd 2018.
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