This is written in honour of Carletta’s write-off for Black History Month; you can see who else is in this on her profile page:
http://www.epinions.com/user-cletta1201

Boycott is an HBO film from a few years ago that tells us a very important story, and an important history lesson. For someone like me, it fills in the blanks of my mind (and possibly many others), filling them with a little more context about situations that occured long before many of us were born, but still influence decades later.

Now, being a white guy from a very rural part of Canada, I’m not excatly well-versed in the civil rights movement in America. Sure, I do know all the names -- Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr, Malcolm X, and so on. I know that both King and Malcolm were important people in the movement, who were assassinated for their courage, and that Parks was the woman who refused to give up her seat on the bus for a white man. I’ve seen Spike Lee’s bio-pic of Malcolm X many years ago, but other than that, haven’t really heard a whole lot about what is, relativeily, recent past. So while a movie may have the tendancy to sacrifice 100% sober facts, for cinematic effort and drama, Boycott does, at least, give me some more info.

The movie itself is about Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat, in Montgomery County in Alabama, and the events which follow. At this time, about the late 50’s, the American South was blantantly racist in its attitudes -- segregation was not just informal, brought about by ignorance and fear of superficial differences, but the law of the land. Certain places were off-limits to blacks -- even places like washrooms and resturants were blocked off from black people, who were permitted only to use more inferior locations for such everyday things. The bus route in the town depicted in this film was also segregated, in a certain fashion -- blacks were allowed to ride the buses, but they had to sit in the back half, and if the bus was full, or at the very least, the “white” half, and a white person needed to find a seat, the black person on that seat had to give up his seat for the white person, and stand for the rest of the trip. This wasn’t some perverted unspoken custom, however -- this was the law. And when Rosa Parks refuses to get off the seat, she gets arrested.

This event motivates the small but determined civil rights movement in the city. They plan to organize a boycott of the bus service until something is done to change the situation. Such planning and activity in this environment is always fraught with a quiet danger -- even the printing up of flyers, at one of the supporters’ workplace, could’ve gotten that supporter fired if she were caught. Nevertheless, the flyers are printed, and the word gets out.

At this time, a new minister comes to town, a young Martin Luther King, Jr. At this point in his life, King is a fairly new preacher, and hasn’t yet (as far as I could tell) achieved much of note -- but that would soon change once he settles in Montgomery. He gets himself involved in the movement and the protest, and his words, and viewpoint, slowly convince the top people in the movement that King would be the right guy to lead the black townsfolk in this troubled time.

What I found amazing is how successful this bus boycott became. The plan, according to the movie, seemed to have been to spend a few days on this boycott, but it actually lasted more than two-hundred days. This despite the strong efforts of the city council, and the bus company to break down the people’s spirits -- the mayor bad-mouths and intimates the movement on television, then later on

The black community itself wasn’t immune to stress within themselves -- a number of the people depicted in the film, naturally, want to lash out, to take revenge against the white people who oppress them. A few good examples include what the police and officials fear will be a race riot when King’s house is firebombed, and also later on when a man’s garage is burned to the ground, while the fire department sit and watch. Many of these people are so angry, and so wanting to do something about the situation, that they occassionally get impatient with King’s famous beliefs that non-violence is the only way to go if you want to rectify anything.

Many people want, or need, quick fixes, and some think only of their own personal stake rather than the entire encompassing situation. In this case, some of these people were probably thinking that, if I just get a hold of this guy and beat the crap out of him, or do some damage to him or his property, because of what he did to me, then I would have solved the problem, and he would have gotten what he deserved. While it would certainly be true that the white people who did make things hard for black people at this time would have gotten what they deserved, it would not have solved the problem of segregation, in King’s view.

As well, I don’t imagine that it was easy to just maintain the boycott. I suppose a lot of people would have found it hard to give up public transit despite the racism they suffered --- they would still have to go to work and do their errands, and who wants to walk for miles and miles every day? But they did, because they believed in what they were doing, and by patiently fighting the good fight, by peaceful and legal means, they slowly but surely got the rights that they deserved.

As a movie, Boycott isn’t brilliant, but it is certainly very well-made. Occassionally, the movie can look a little TV-ish, which is only natural, I guess, considering the film’s origins, while at the same time, the film does occassionally get more stylized than may be neccessary. The first scene, for example, during Rosa Parks’ bus ride, we get some interesting, surreal camera shots and montages, which confused me a little bit at first, but at least starts the movie off in an interesting and fancy way.

Jeffery Wright, as King, is certainly able to give us a sense of the strength of King’s oratory. Due to my infamously poor memory, adn the fact that I saw this film about three or so weeks ago, I’m unable to give you some excat quotes, but I always find it quite stirring to see and hear speeches of empowerment and the like.

At the same time, this film is very good as a history lesson, and for someone who is not extremely familar with the subject matter. I’m sure that books and other similar mediums would give me more info, but, for now, at least, I’m certain that I know a little more now than I did a few weeks ago, before I saw this movie. Boycott is definitely a good rental.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV