Review of Dear White People (2014) by Petar L — 27 Mar 2015

Justin Simien's feature debut revolving around the lives of black students in an overwhelmingly white prep school is both witty and ambitious, and naturally, controversial right from its trailers which would probably turn most people off due to its rather blunt, yet satirical approach, and thus its best recommended for those who are able to accept cutting satire on race relations without being offended. Simien navigates the delicate topic of race in a story about the search of identity in post-racial America by its four black, yet vastly different leads; the headstrong and enigmatic Sam White (Tessa Thompson); the young reporter Lionel Higgins (Tyler James Williams); the aspiring comedic writer with daddy issues, Troy Fairbanks (Brandon P Bell); and the wannabe celebrity, Colandrea 'Coco' Conners (Teyonah Parris).

All four lead characters are - obviously - blacks, or African-American if we're going with the politically correct term, but their motives and behavior in Dear White People are what sets them apart from each other, and ultimately proves to be one of the movie's many defining attributes; strength through diversity. With Sam, Lionel, Troy and Coco being wildly and vastly different characters who clash over the school's policies and microaggression by the other students, Simien uses the large playground to his benefit as he challenges the many topics over race, identity, politics and white-washing of black culture, as his characters attempt to find their identity and place in school and the world.

The director arguably does this while he leaves the white characters as one-dimensional as possible in a conscious creative decision to fully flesh out his black characters, which itself is a nagging satire of narratives with predominantly white characters who are fully developed while their dark skinned peers are reduced to caricatures and walking stereotypes. Dear White People's handling of its white and black characters is somewhat of a personality test by Simien; if the movie bothers a viewer with its ill-handling of white characters, then shouldn't movies with the reverse - the ill-handling of black characters - bother said viewer as well?

In his characters' search for an identity, Simien presents no absolutes or definite answers, and this prevents the story from going down clichéd roads of self-discovery through means of deus director ex machina. The director merely goads them into a certain 'plausible' direction, only to have the narrative constantly do complete reversals to put them in positions that have the characters questioning whether they want to be where they are as who they are. As stellar as Simien's writing and direction proved to be - particularly the execution of the appalling climax -, Dear White People would've fell flat were it not for its outstanding cast of young actors, particularly The Walking Dead's Tyler James Williams and Tessa Thompson of Selma (2014), both of whom prove to be actors to watch out for in the future.