Genre: Drama
Director: Dee Rees
Writer: Harry Wright
Based on the novel by Colson Whitehead
Cast: Mahershala Ali, Ashton Sanders, Shameik Moore, Jackie Earle Haley, Keith L. Williams, Cicely Tyson, Trevor Jackson, Zachary Gordon, Bill Camp, Ray Abruzzo, Kevin Carroll
Plot: New York City, New York – 1988
Elwood Curtis (Mahershala Ali) enters his company’s office and people wave at him and smile, wishing him a good day. He salutes them one-by-one and heads upstairs to his office, where he gets rid of his coat. His secretary gives him the newspaper and a hot cup of coffee and he thanks her for her good work. He enters his office and sits down on his chair, looking down at the main floor by his window. He founded Ace Moving twenty years ago and things are going well. He starts to read the newspaper and the headline piques his curiosity : “Secret Grave Discovered at Nickel Acamedy”. He puts his newspaper down and ask his secretary to cancel his meetings for the week, he’s going away for a while. He doesn’t know when he will be back.
Talahassee, Florida – 1962
The Richmond Hotel is busy this evening with a reception held for a wedding. The Richmond staff is exclusively black, as no white man or woman will reduce himself or herself amongst the black folks. It is worth noting, as multiple pictograms show, that Afro-Americans aren’t allowed to eat or stay at the Richmond. Florida. Florida is still under the Jim Crow laws at that time. Elwood Curtis (Ashton Sanders) is fighting with another busboy over a box of encyclopedia a travelling salesman left behind. The Curtis aren’t rich, and Elwood is a bright boy and he would really like the encyclopedia. He’s able to pin down his rival, thus winning the fight and the encyclopedias that come with it. Afterwards, his Elwood gets laughed at by saying that one day, he will be the one to get married at the Richmond and everybody will be allowed inside. They are interrupted by Harriet (Cicely Tyson), Elwood’s frail grandmother who is also working at the Richmond despite her advanced age. She berates the boy for getting their uniforms dirty and she foolishly laughs at Elwood for suggesting he could get married here. “Jim Crow ain’t going to just slink off” she says. Elwood gets back inside to clean the dishes as he always does. He looks at the clock and starts to cuss. He kisses his grandmother goodbye, grabs his encyclopedias and runs on the other side of town.
Elwood bursts into Marconi’s Tobacco & Cigars. Mr. Marconi (Ray Abruzzo), the owner, is upset that he’s late and Elwood stumbles on his words to justify its tardiness, but Marconi is understanding. He knows Elwood is living alone with his grandmother and they have to make ends meet so he has two jobs. He taps him on the shoulders and notices the encyclopedias. He asked him how is school going and he says it’s nice. Marconi says he could arrange for Elwood to attend a couple of free classes in college and he asks him if he would like that. Elwood is ecstatic and accepts right away. Marconi waves him goodbye and leaves, reminding him of the number one rule in the store, do not run at burglars. He doesn’t want to have a parent come back saying a dark-skinned teen ran at his precious son. Elwood opens his encyclopedias and starts to study.
It is a quiet night at the store, but right before closing, two boys enter the store and walk around suspiciously. They laugh at Elwood, recognizing him for being this idealistic African American. They stuff their pockets with candies and cigarettes and run away. Elwood, who remembers Mr. Marconi’s number one rule, chases them anyway, because he wants to defend his honor. He runs way faster than both, but they ruthlessly beat him up because he chased after them.
When he gets back to his home that night, he tells his grandmother that Mr. Marconi announced to him that he could attend free classes in college. Harriet asks him to be careful, dark-skinned aren’t welcomed to these places. She shows him his second-hand textbooks the school provides from him who were white boys’ property before and it is filled with racial slurs and insults in the margin, because they know it will get passed on to African American after they are done with it. Elwood says he’s aware of all of this and he opposes it. He shows her the letter he writes against racial discrimination to the local newspaper under the pseudonym Archer Montgomery. Harriet says he’s foolish to believe in such an improbable thing as racial equality. She says he can go first thing in the morning and Elwood thanks her, saying he’ll ask Rodney from the hotel to give him a lift. She kisses him good night and goes to sleep.
The following day, Elwood packed his bag and met with Rodney at the hotel. They take off as Elwood waves his grandmother goodbye. Some time later, on a dirt road, they are intercepted by police officers. The car has been reportedly stolen. Both Elwood and Rodney are arrested, accused of stealing a car. His life is turned upside down.
Some time later, Elwood has been convicted of helping to steal the car. He’s on his way to the Nickel Academy, a reform school in Tallahassee. He thinks about his ruined life and everything he could have done if he hadn’t got into Rodney’s car. It was a stupid mistake. He should’ve asked Mr. Marconi to drive him there, or simply refuse his offer. His sees the Nickel Academy on the horizon. It looks nice, nothing like he imagined. They escort him to some sort of gymnasium. Elwood walks alongside the others, but a guard pulls him aside and makes him sit on the other side. They separate the blacks from the white. Elwood looks around him, he sits alone on his side. They introduce Superintendent Maynard Spencer (Jackie Earle Haley). He welcomes them to the Nickel Academy, a reform school for troubled minds. He explains how it works at his school. There are four ranks, Grub, Explorer, Pioneer and finally, Ace. You can move up depending on you behavior and when you get to Ace, they you can go home. He welcomes them all and asks them to behave appropriately and they should enjoy their stay here.
After the presentation by Mr. Spencer, Elwood is taken the building where he will live, named Cleveland, named after former President Grover Cleveland. When he gets in, Elwood awkwardly walks around, looking for a room to stay in. He finally encounters someone named Jack Turner (Shameik Moore). Jack welcomes him and show him his room. The bottom bed is now available after his roommate… but he doesn’t end his sentence. Elwood asks him what happened, but Jack changes the subject. He says the Cleveland house helps with the crops and get educated, that’s basically all they do. It’s night-time now, so they should get some sleep. The schedule is grueling when you arrive.
At night, Elwood hears a roaring noise, like a muffled, but persistent scream that can’t seem to go away. He hears Jack saying someone went out for ice cream again, but Elwood doesn’t want to ask him what he meant by that.
The following day, we see Elwood working in the field in the afternoon. He takes a break to look at his surroundings, he sees the white people on the other side of a fence and they aren’t working the field, they seem to rather enjoy themselves. He sees a small, unkempt building in-between the two sides of the Nickel Academy. He wonders what may be inside when Jack taps on his shoulders, saying he should get back to work, he doesn’t want to be caught contemplating the horizon. Elwood understands and gets back to work.
In the afternoon, Elwood and Jack head to class, taught by the unenthusiastic Mr. Goodall (Michael Harney). Elwood vents his frustration about the basic material they are given to Jack, claiming it’s way too easy for him and it’s holding him back. Jack laughs it off and says he could express his frustration with Mr. Goodall. Elwood does just that and Goodall laughs it off. He says if he wanted a proper education, he should have been white and shouldn’t have got into trouble. Elwood remembers Mr. Spencer said they could get home based on their behavior, so Elwood intends to leave this place quickly.
When they go back to their house, Elwood takes a detour to gather his thoughts, when he sees two white kids bullying a young man, Corey (Keith L. Williams). Elwood kicks them in the balls and posterior. They try to retaliate, but Elwood is able to send off after a short fight. Corey doesn’t thank him and instead runs away, before he’s reported as missing. Elwood does the same. When he gets back to the dorm, Elwood tells Jack what happened and he asks him if it could help with his rank and Jack says he will regret his decision once he goes out for ice cream tonight. Elwood doesn’t understand what he means by that and Jack says he’ll find out soon enough, but he should consider himself warned.
In the middle of the night, Elwood is taken in his sleep and dragged to the suspicious building in-between the two sides of the Academy. When they take the bag off his face, he finds himself tied up to a chair with Corey sitting next to him in a similar situation. He finds out the muffled noise he hears is in fact an industrial fan rotating. He asks Corey what they are doing here and Corey says it looks like they got send in the ice cream factory. Mr. Spencer steps forward, coming out of the shadow, dressed in white. He says he doesn’t like when children call it that, he prefers the term “White House”. He introduces them to Black Beauty, his leather strap he cherishes so much. He asks them to take a look around and they see spatter of blood smeared on the walls. He says that if they make noise, they get more lashes. Maynard starts to punish them and Elwood faints after he receives a vicious attack on the side of the head.
When Elwood wakes up, he finds himself in the nursery. He’s covered from the head-to-toe in cuts and he has dried blood on his temper. He’s surprised by Jack, laying in a be by his side. Elwood asks him what he’s doing here and Jack says he drank soap to make himself sick so he wouldn’t have to work, he’ll show him to the trick someday, it’s not dangerous and it works. He asks him if he liked his visit in the ice cream factory and Elwood says it was alright and they start laughing, but they soon get a concerned look on their faces. Jack says he’s lucky to even be here, some people never get out of the ice cream factory. Elwood looks around him for Corey, but he doesn’t find him. He keeps it to himself. Elwood swears to never go in there again and he will mind his own business from now on and Elwood says it’s good he understands.
Elwood is taken out of the nursery as he has a visitor. The nurse covers his apparent cuts and Elwood meets with Harriet, who came to visit him. She cries at the sight of her grandson. She says she isn’t here to chastise him, but she wanted to talk. She tells Elwood the story of her own father, who died in jail after he was accused by a white woman of not getting out of her way on a sidewalk. Her husband was killed when he tried to defend a black guy getting beat up by a group of white men and that’s without saying what happened to Elwood’s parents. She thought he would be the one to break the cycle, he was off to a promising start, but now he is here. She wants him to get his shit together, he’s better than this. She leans in for a hug and the guard throws her out. She violated the no-touching policy. On the other side of a glass-window, he sees white boys hugging their family and no one bats an eye. Elwood swears to lay low and he will get out of here.
A couple of weeks later, both Jack and Elwood got up a rank and are now assigned to what is called “Community Service” with a man named Harper (Bill Camp). They go door-to-door to sell items given to the Nickel Academy, destined to the black kids and use the profits to buy stuff for the white kids. It means they can get out of the Nickel Academy so they are all for it. When they are out to work, Elwood asks Jack what got him here. Jack says he used to work at a bowling alley and he loved to heckle the white players, but just for fun and they didn’t mind it. It all degenerated when an old black man chastised him for entertaining white people. It changed his perspective of what he was doing and the good nature of his heckling was lost. A white man attacked him and he swung a brick at him. It landed him in Nickel. Elwood shares his story too, while religiously keeping note of their deliveries and what they sold and for how much.
When they get back, everyone is hyped up about the annual Nickel boxing match pitting a black boy against a white boy. Jack explains the blacks have won for fifteen years straight. Elwood asks how they determine who’s going to fight and Jack say black people just choose their fighter. He doesn’t know how the white folks do it.
We cut to see a montage of Maynard Spencer visiting all the white houses and watching the boys shower so he can determine if they are fit enough. He points at the ones he declares fit enough and he has a “private interview” with each and everyone of them, in what he calls “Lovers’ Lane”, the basement of the ice cream factory. Spencer lying in a bed naked, when he proclaims that this one is perfect. Chet (Zachary Gordon) is the chosen one. The black folks chose Griff (Trevor Jackson).
During this time, a group of young teens are planning something on the staff, as they blame them for the Corey’s disappearance. They got their hands on horse tranquilizer and they plan to pour it in a drink destined for the staff. Both Elwood and Jack agree that it’s a messed up plan and they want no part in it. They focus their attention to ring as the teens head over to the drinks table. They pour horse tranquilizers in a glass, as Maynard Spence is seen gathering money from the numerous staff members, indicating there are betting on the fight. Maynard approaches Griff and he tells him to throw the fight in the third or else… he knows what will happen.
The fight starts as Griff dominates Chet, landing several big shots at his head, but he constantly reminds himself of what the superintendent told him. The first round ends and everyone agrees Griff won the round. The second round is basically a repeat of the first one, with people noting Chet’s resilience. As soon as the second round ends, Harper, who took the poisoned cup, falls the ground unconscious. The nurses are quick to take him out and Spencer struggles to gather everyone’s attention back to the fight. With all the cacophony, Griff forgets which round it was and he mistakenly knocks down Chet. It wasn’t his intention. He apologizes profusely, but Chet is out cold, Griff is the winner. In the immediate aftermath, while the black boys are celebrating their 16th straight victory, Griff is taken “out back” by Spencer’s men, where they tie him up to trees and Maynard whips him for making him lose money.
Harriet receives Mr. Marconi over dinner. She said she had some bad news for him. He’s at his store and wonders what he should get her, he’s absolutely certain Elwood died at the Academy and he doesn’t know what to give her. He simply grabs a flower bouquet and heads over to her small apartment. It is littered with pictures of Elwood and his family. Harriet thanks him for the flowers and she says she hopes he enjoys her cooking, it must be different from what his mom used to cook him. He says it’s alright while she reminds him he’s not obligated to do this for Elwood, he doesn’t owe them anything and Mr. Marconi says he does it because he thinks Elwood is a good boy and destined for great things and what happened to him was a disgrace. She says he’s too sweet and she finally lets the cat out the bag. The hundreds of dollars he gave her to hire a competent lawyer for Elwood, well, it’s gone. She gave it to the lawyer and he ran away with it. He didn’t want to represent an African-American. Mr. Marconi says it’s too bad and he isn’t mad at Harriet. At least they know they tried.
New York City, New York, 1988
Elwood is the streets, watching the marathon as the runners pass in front of the Ace Moving headquarters at the beginning of the race. Once they are far enough, he asks his employees to help clean up the streets and they do so. Elwood is about to get back inside when someone grabs him by the arm. The man (Kevin Carroll) calls himself Chickie Pete and he recognizes Elwood from the Nickel Academy. Elwood says he doesn’t remember anyone named Chickie Pete, but he says that’s normal, he used to be quiet and mind his own business. He asks him if he wants to get a drink and they head to the nearby bar. Chickie Pete confesses he joined the army after he left the academy, but he developed a drinking problem, so they threw him out. They then make a list of everyone they remember about the academy and find out that everyone developed their own problem, but not Elwood. Elwood says the academy messed them up big time and Chickie Pete asks him what happened about the guy who used to hang out with him at the academy. Elwood’s eyes open wide and he heads out. Chickie Pete asks him to call him if he has a job opening, but he realises afterwards that he didn’t leave him his number.
Tallahassee, Florida – 1962
Maynard Spencer is on high alert right now. The Nickel Academy is under state inspection and they will send one of their inspectors in a couple of weeks to investigate. Of course, word got out amongst people and many people are plotting to show the inspectors what the Nickel Academy is really about. Spencer announces everyone is upped one rank, so it makes Elwood a Pioneer. Everyone quits what they’re doing and everyone will work to repair and repaint the black houses. A while later, while they are painting a room, Elwood shows Jack his Community Service records and a letter he wrote, telling what really goes down at the Nickel Academy. He intends to give it to the inspectors. Jack says he’s nearly out of here and he won’t risk it. He doesn’t want any part of the plan. Jack changes room with a colleague, leaving Elwood alone with his reports and letters.
The following day, the inspectors arrive and Spencer is following them everywhere, making sure they don’t enter places they shouldn’t and keeping them out of the buildings they didn’t have time to “dress up”. Elwood paces around in his room. Jack is sitting on his bed, reading. All of a sudden, Harper, who recently got out of the hospital, comes in and he asks Elwood to come down and work the field. Elwood says he doesn’t too and Jack simply says that although he doesn’t approve, he will give it to them. Elwood thanks him and leave. Some time later, Spencer concludes the visit in quick fashion as the sun settles down. Elwood comes back to his room and asks Jack what happened. He says he gave them the letters and nothing more. Elwood, satisfied and exhausted, goes to sleep. In the middle of the night, he’s awakened by guards and they throw him in solitary confinement.
For the next few days, Elwood is given a meal per day and a bucket for a toilet. He’s given a beating a day by Spencer. Elwood spends all day trying to decipher the markings his predecessors wrote on the walls. That night, Elwood’s arm hurt, he was hit hard by Spencer. He tries to get some sleep, but he can’t find a proper position. He’s finding some peace, when the door opens. Jack tells him to get out of here quickly. He heard they are thinking about sending him “out back” tomorrow because of the letter he wrote the inspectors. They need to leave immediately. Jack helps Elwood out and sneak out the Nickel Academy, passing behind the night patrols. They walk on the dirt road leading to the academy and they find bikes. They can taste the freedom now and they pedal really fast. Their good feeling is disturbed by headlights coming their way. They recognize a Community Service van. Harper and Spencer come out with shotguns. A gunshot is heard as the camera zooms out.
Tallahassee, Florida, USA – 1988
Elwood gets down the airplane and he heads to his hotel. While he checks in at the Richmond Hotel and cracks a smile as he sees black people eating in the restaurant, including himself. After he’s done eating, he heads to the Nickel Academy. They ask him his name so he can access the site and he says Elwood Curtis. The lady says there must be a problem and he says his name is Jack Turner. She checks his name off the list and gives him a pass. He walks amongst the corpses in the gymnasium, looking for one. He sees the little Corey, and then Griff. He’s interrupted by a journalist who asks him question. He tells her his life story and what happened to him. He says he used to be at the Nickel Academy and he witnessed the atrocities. He tried to escape with his best friend, but they got caught. He felt guilty because he used his friend to get himself out quicker. He gave Maynard documents and he promised him he would leave the following day, but it never happened. He had remorse and he helped him escape but Elwood was shot. Jack was able to get away. He changed his name short after in a way to protect his identity if his story ever got out. He chose the name Elwood Curtis in a way to pay homage to his late friend and to remind himself of what he did. The film ends with Jack crying over Elwood’s body, saying he’s sorry and that his ream came true. He was able to eat at the Richmond today.
No comments:
Post a Comment