Emmett Christolear – Managing Editor
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Eloise (Jillian Estell) and Rowena (Octavia Spencer) head to the pool (Photo courtesy of IMDb.com).
I was suspicious of seeing “Black or White” when I first saw the trailer for it. My concern was that Hollywood was pushing out another white-savior movie.
When the credits were popping up, I got the first clue that the movie was not going to be that great: I didn’t know the writer/director Mike Binder (of course, he’s white).
Another sign that the movie wasn’t going to be great was the length: it’s two hours long. I’ll be the first, and not the last, to say that there was no point in the movie taking that long. Some of the scenes were pointless and could have been taken out.
I missed the beginning of the movie because I got there late. I don’t think I missed anything but Elliot Anderson (Kevin Costner, “Dances with Wolves”) finding out that his wife has died in a car accident. I’m actually thankful that I missed this part, though, because car accidents make me really anxious.
The death is what sparks the course of the movie. Because Elliot’s wife dies, Rowena Jeffers (Octavia Spencer, “The Help”) decides that she wants custody of Eloise Anderson (Jillian Estell, “So This is Christmas”). Eloise is the granddaughter of Elliot by his daughter, who died during childbirth. Eloise’s father is Reggie, Rowena’s son. The split of ethnicity is the whole point of the movie; hence the name “Black or White.”
Elliot and his wife raised Eloise after she was born. They had a small relationship with Rowena during Eloise’s childhood. Rowena believes that it will be good for Eloise to be around the Jeffers family, which is large and has children close to Eloise’s age.
The custody battle first begins with Rowena taking Elliot to court. Rowena is a family-focused individual who owns and operates her own businesses. Now, if Elliot, who has a drinking problem, won against Rowena, it would have very quickly turned into an even bigger issue of race.
What this movie does, though, is switch the contenders of the custody case. Reggie (André Holland, “Friends with Benefits) decides that he wants custody of his daughter and throws his hat in the ring. Reggie has a criminal record, a drug habit and violent tendencies (you know, because the drugs).
By using Reggie as the antithesis of Elliot, it starts to become clear that the movie is indeed a white-savior movie.
I firmly believe that the film would not have known how to end if it did not have Reggie in it as the black guy that was “okay” to root against.
Best part of the movie: I don’t think that there was a best part. There was never a moment that I was fully invested in the story or even the filmmaking. I mostly wanted the film to end.
Worst part of the movie: Everything. As I’ve already said, there wasn’t a point when I was really invested in the movie. The characters were not very interesting or complex and their faults were forgiven.
This film is nothing that we as a society have not seen before. There’s a custody battle, the classic court room scenes, the tension of race and the added bonus of tension between economic status.
In the end, Elliot has Eloise to stay with Rowena for a few weeks while he is out “re-learning how to breathe” rather than being up-front about the fact that he needs help with his alcohol addiction.
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