“This isn’t a revolution of Black against White. This is a revolution of right against wrong and right has always won.”
“They act like America was good and got bad. America ain’t never been good!”
“If they took all the drugs, nicotine, alcohol and caffeine off the market for six days, they’d have to bring out the tanks to control you.”
“Momma, a welfare cheater. A criminal who couldn’t stand to see her kids go hungry, or grow up in slumbs and end up mugging people in dar corners. I guess the system didn’t want her to get off relief, the way it kept sending social workers around to be sure Momma wasn’t trying to make things better.”
“I waited at the counter of a white restaurant for eleven years. When they finally integrated, they didn’t have what I wanted.”
“Poor is a state of mind you never grow out of, but being broke is just a temporary condition.”
“The most difficult thing to get people to do is to accept the obvious.”
“Education means to bring out wisdom. Indoctrination means to push in knowledge.”
“My belief is, you know, certain things have to be explained that’s never been explained.”
Welcome back to another Movie Night Friday, where I tell you about my favorite movies and why I love them. If you like the movies too, feel free to comment why you love them.
So today we’re looking at Boyz N The Hood, one of the best hood movies ever made.
John Singleton’s Directorial debut, Boyz N The Hood, released in July of ’91, is a Coming of Age Drama surrounding the life of three black men growing up in South Central LA, and starring some of the best black actors to date: Lawrence Fishburne, Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding Jr., Angela Basset, Regina King, and a young Nia Long, and Morris Chestnut. In fact, this was Ice Cube and Chestnut’s first movie debut.
After his many troubles in school, a young Tre (Desi Arnez Hines II) is sent to live with his father Furious Styles (Fishburne) by his mother Reva (Basset) in the Crenshaw neighborhood of South Central. His father, one of the reasons this became one of my favorites, instills in Tre the life lessons and values many of his young friends do not have. In fact, as Tre reunites with his childhood friends, Darrin “Doughboy”, his brother Ricky and Chris, their mutual friend, his lessons in manhood take on new meaning and his decisions become critical. His friends do not have the privilege of a positive father figure and are drawn to the streets for guidance. Furious therefore warns Tre about following in their footsteps but despite his warnings, older Tre (Cuba) and his friends have their own way of surviving. In this Teen Hood Drama, loyalty and danger dance too close for comfort, and dire situations force Tre to decide for himself the future he wants.
Trailer:
Funny Movie Mistakes:
In the scene where Lawrence Fishburne hooks up Cuba Gooding Jr.’s fade, he never actually cuts any hair, but then demands that Cuba clean up the mess after he is finished.
Welcome back to another week of Movie Night Friday, where I present some of my favorite movies and why I love them. Next up on our list is Malcolm X:
I still don’t understand why Denzel Washington could win an Oscar for Training Day and not Malcolm X, it is in my opinion one of his best roles (Washington did win the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor). Directed and co-written by Spike Lee, Malcolm X released in November of ’92 and is based on the life of Malcolm X from his Biography. It was a time where, after the crack epidemic of the 80’s, Black people had begun to pick up some inkling of consciousness. You’ll notice many movies in the early 90s where blacks wore Kufi’s, and Dashiki’s as an indication of awareness (even though not completely, there is always stepping stones that take place in our lives that start us on the right path). Needless to say Malcolm X was a hit.
The movie takes us through the life of Malcolm Little, his early life as a gangster and as a criminal and his transformation as the controversial Islamic, Black Nationalist leader Malcolm X. For the record, I am not a Muslim, but I love how Denzel showed Malcolm’s passion and anyone with access to YouTube can verify this in the eyes of the real Malcolm. It’s one thing to make a speech or stand for something, but it’s a completely different thing when you are sincere about it, when you have passion that comes from the depths of your very heart and Malcolm had this. He had this and it lit a fire under those who wished to be apart of change for the so called Black people. And because of the traumatic experiences of America, we more than our brothers and sisters in any other country worldwide, need the kind of discipline that Malcolm brought forward; a tough love if you will. I also love the outreach programs catered to the community and the re-instilling of a love of self; the teaching of black people to embrace, as Malcolm put it, “their beautiful black selves”. Of course today I have a different perspective on the whole black thing (as I do not believe our nationality is defined by a color, that we are from the lost tribe of shabbaz or that white people are devils, for the record), but this movie was a great first step for many young people, such as myself, to dig deeper into the question of nationhood. The movie even portrayed Malcolm’s awareness that the Hebrews, was (are) Black Skinned:
Yea Yea, ignore the title of the video because this isn’t about religion and it’s deeper than color, but the point is that scenes such as this is a great introduction to full understanding for someone who otherwise does not know.
Moving on…
Additionally, I loved the way Malcolm explained things because not everyone can do that. Yes, you say that you believe in something but what is that belief based on? And what do you mean? Malcolm spoke to understanding, he was precise, knowledgeable, and aware on a level that made your head spin. Just watching this movie alone makes me excited and compelled to do something. But of all this, the most important part of the movie, in which it was careful not to go into much detail, was the end, Malcolm’s split from the NOI (Nation of Islam)
You see, I cannot judge neither Malcolm X or Martin Luther King Dr., for what they were for the first part of their lives. For me, what’s important is how they ended their lives. Malcolm X left this world with a different outlook on life and I do believe he understood the truth completely. He discovered the lies and attempted to expose the truth when he was murdered, as did Dr. King (whose entire jaw was blown off as symbolism that you keep your mouth shut). You see, men of this caliber, who spark this much power among black people, they aren’t just killed by random acts of violence, they are murdered and this is not political mumbo jumbo nor is it conspiracy theory; this is conspiracy fact.
In 2010, Malcolm X the film, was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
Trailer:
Funny Movie Mistakes:
When Malcolm is talking on the telephone in an extreme close up, you can see the connector on the phone is one of the modern snap-in modular jacks. Telephones in the 1960’s did not have those.
The PBS Blog 