America's Dreams is an interesting set of three short films (made for TV in 1996), all based on racist attitudes in America. Each of the 3 films are told exclusively from the viewpoint of a black man / woman and thus are rather biased, but that doesn't mean that the stories are any less valid or worth telling. (It just means that the few white people in each story are all racist in their own way, which is a rather bleak outlook, and hopefully not true!) I'm not sure exactly what time period the three were set in, but I get the impression that each was set slightly later than the previous film, with the first one being not all that long after black people in America began to get the freedom they deserved – but not the respect.
Each story is, in its own way, powerful, albeit perhaps lacking subtlety. The main emotion that comes across, especially in the final film, is anger at the way they were treated by whites for many years. To me, the shame of it is that the idea came across that the anger is still there with no redemption / coming together being in sight. Racism (from each side – it's foolish to imagine that whites are the only people guilty of it, though you might think that from the news broadcasts you see) is still sadly a part of the world we live in, but (maybe I'm being naïve here...) it seems to me that the vast majority of us do accept people of other races, colours, and cultures. These films gave me the impression that the filmmakers felt that there was a great chasm between blacks and whites that would never be breached. Perhaps I got the wrong message from them, but they seemed to be about standing up to an oppressor, not trying to find a peaceful solution and work together. Then again they were set some time ago, perhaps they just wanted to portray the situation then.
Anyway that's enough musing on the subject, what about the films? I would say that they are definitely worth watching, but not exactly brilliant. They each had a particular point to get across and they did that, but not much more. There are a few star names scattered throughout the films, including Wesley Snipes, Danny Glover, and Lorraine Toussaint. The acting was good throughout, the main reason for the 3 star rating is because the message was bludgeoned across rather than put there for you to examine.
The 3 films are:
Long Black Song
This tells the story of a poor black farmer and his wife, who is visited by a white salesman, who has seems to have more respect for black people that most around him. This works against him however as he finds himself attracted to the farmer's wife...
The Boy Who Painted Christ Black
To me this was by far the most interesting of the 3 films, partly because I once met someone whose husband had caused a furore locally by painting a picture of Jesus with darkish brown skin (as people in the Mediterranean area would tend to have). A schoolboy paints a picture of Christ as a black man, because that's how he sees it. (The reasons for him seeing it this way are particularly telling, but I won't give it away here.) His schoolteacher's career is on the line if he enters it for the local competition, however...
The Reunion
A jazz singer is visited in the bar she sings at by an old acquaintance, but the reunion is hardly a happy one... Perhaps the most depressing of the three films!
With a bit more subtlety and perhaps more time to fully examine each character, these films would have had a lot more impact. As it is they are powerful but rather bleak. The tagline is "In a world of oppression, hatred and injustice, dreams can come true...", and it's this oppression, hatred, and injustice that are concentrated on. The "dreams coming true" bit is rather more debatable.
More than anything, watching these made feel sorry for what people have suffered at the hands of others, and even more sorry that it still happens. Hopefully it doesn't happen as much as it did. At the end of the day, these films strive to deliver a powerful message and to a large extent manage it – but as films, they're not much more than average. Still worth a look though.
(This is the final film in a set of drama films, the others being The Dark Side of the Sun, The Magic Bubble, Hammers Over the Anvil. It's not a set I can really recommend as the first two films are awful, but since it only cost me £2.97 I'm not complaining too much! :-D)
Recommended:
Yes
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older
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