Long Walk Home (B+ or 3/4 stars)
'The Long Walk Home' (directed by Richard Pearce) is a film about the birth of a troubled era in American history - civil rights in the South. This film shows, with disarming simplicity (and in the wake of Rosa Parks), the effect of the famous 1955 Montgomery Alabama bus boycott on a black maid, Odessa Cotter (Whoopi Goldberg), & the white family that employs her. The social message is apparent. The villains (racist cops, bigoted relatives) may blather for most of the movie, but the victims (Odessa, her family, & the black movement) will not be blown over. Their glowing moral triumph by movie's end is a welcome certainty. But if this film feels familiar, Goldberg's restrained, stoic performance as Odessa the maid who must serve her employers & the boycott raises the experience several pegs.
Sissy Spacek, as Miriam (Odessa's employer) - a white housewife who becomes increasingly aware of the social inequities in her own kitchen - also contributes an involving human movement. Odessa, who lives on the far side of town with her husband (Ving Rhames) & their 3 adorable children, must take a long bus ride to get to the well-to-do white neighborhood where she's employed. Conscientious in her job, she is also committed to political emancipation. So, when blacks refuse to ride the buses rather than endure the indignities of sitting in the back, it means that Odessa must take the long, painful walk to-&-fro her job in uncomfortable shoes.
Miriam needs her maid, but also comes to appreciate the larger issue, & gives Odessa a ride twice a week. She must hide this compromising activity from her husband & his more bigoted brother (who belongs to the Klan-like White Citizen's Council). But Miriam's hubby does find out that Miriam gives Odessa a ride and ... of course ... he flips out. And Miriam must make the decision to stand her ground against her husband (for what's right) or give-in to his demands.
Though most of 'TLWH' heads down a moral path, the director & screenwriter uncover some dramatic grays along the way. Early in the film, a white cop kicks out Odessa & Miriam's white children from an exclusive park. Miriam demands an apology from the police ... but for the humiliation of her children, not necessarily for Odessa. And on another occasion, Odessa's teen daughter breaks the boycott in favor of a far-more hormonal issue - to see a boyfriend. You see the gray areas in both situations. Thankfully, Miriam comes around and stumps for Odessa & the blacks in matters concerning that bus boycott; realizing for the 1st time just how self-centered & privileged her own life has been. I mean, hell ... Odessa had been raising not one, but 2 families: Miriam's and her own.
Cinematographer Roger Deakins creates a pleasing look to the film. The sets & costumes seem authentic. But the focus of the film is (and should be) on character conflict. And both Goldberg & Spacek excel, here. There is, however, an unnecessary voice-over narration by Mary Steenburgen. The story tells itself without her help, her character isn't even clued-in to a lot of the film's events (particularly Odessa's home scenes), and it would have been nice to hear a different point of view from a black character. But I digress. Too many other aspects of the film are strong enough to permiss the occasional misstep.
The film has a feel for the era, including a memorable excerpt from a MLK Jr. speech. "If we are wrong, then the Supreme Court of this nation is wrong. If we are wrong, the constitution of the United States is wrong. If we are wrong, then God Almighty is wrong." -- powerful stuff. Some visual moments do stand out. When Miriam offers a ride to a stranded black woman, she reaches for the door handle with hesitancy. At the beginning of the film, blacks step up to the bus and its driver, hand in their $$, step back off the bus onto the sidewalk, then re-enter through the rear door to take their seats. And it's done with a sobering business-as-usual air. This scene manages to do what the entire movie achieves ... it says everything by showing, and not saying anything, at all. Thumbs up.
Sissy Spacek, as Miriam (Odessa's employer) - a white housewife who becomes increasingly aware of the social inequities in her own kitchen - also contributes an involving human movement. Odessa, who lives on the far side of town with her husband (Ving Rhames) & their 3 adorable children, must take a long bus ride to get to the well-to-do white neighborhood where she's employed. Conscientious in her job, she is also committed to political emancipation. So, when blacks refuse to ride the buses rather than endure the indignities of sitting in the back, it means that Odessa must take the long, painful walk to-&-fro her job in uncomfortable shoes.
Miriam needs her maid, but also comes to appreciate the larger issue, & gives Odessa a ride twice a week. She must hide this compromising activity from her husband & his more bigoted brother (who belongs to the Klan-like White Citizen's Council). But Miriam's hubby does find out that Miriam gives Odessa a ride and ... of course ... he flips out. And Miriam must make the decision to stand her ground against her husband (for what's right) or give-in to his demands.
Though most of 'TLWH' heads down a moral path, the director & screenwriter uncover some dramatic grays along the way. Early in the film, a white cop kicks out Odessa & Miriam's white children from an exclusive park. Miriam demands an apology from the police ... but for the humiliation of her children, not necessarily for Odessa. And on another occasion, Odessa's teen daughter breaks the boycott in favor of a far-more hormonal issue - to see a boyfriend. You see the gray areas in both situations. Thankfully, Miriam comes around and stumps for Odessa & the blacks in matters concerning that bus boycott; realizing for the 1st time just how self-centered & privileged her own life has been. I mean, hell ... Odessa had been raising not one, but 2 families: Miriam's and her own.
Cinematographer Roger Deakins creates a pleasing look to the film. The sets & costumes seem authentic. But the focus of the film is (and should be) on character conflict. And both Goldberg & Spacek excel, here. There is, however, an unnecessary voice-over narration by Mary Steenburgen. The story tells itself without her help, her character isn't even clued-in to a lot of the film's events (particularly Odessa's home scenes), and it would have been nice to hear a different point of view from a black character. But I digress. Too many other aspects of the film are strong enough to permiss the occasional misstep.
The film has a feel for the era, including a memorable excerpt from a MLK Jr. speech. "If we are wrong, then the Supreme Court of this nation is wrong. If we are wrong, the constitution of the United States is wrong. If we are wrong, then God Almighty is wrong." -- powerful stuff. Some visual moments do stand out. When Miriam offers a ride to a stranded black woman, she reaches for the door handle with hesitancy. At the beginning of the film, blacks step up to the bus and its driver, hand in their $$, step back off the bus onto the sidewalk, then re-enter through the rear door to take their seats. And it's done with a sobering business-as-usual air. This scene manages to do what the entire movie achieves ... it says everything by showing, and not saying anything, at all. Thumbs up.