Review of Dear White People (2014) by Devin N — 21 Nov 2014

Long Review:

There's a message board post on this movie's IMDB page titled "Majority of the threads about this movie validates why it exists." The greatest strength of this movie is that it never gives a straight answer about the presence of racism in modern day America; that is, it never asserts why it needs to exist. Any statements the film makes are simply used to mock our current situation. The movie doesn't really push a message, rather it just shows the reactions of some college students to their society. It would be so easy for this movie to take a pretentious stance about its subject matter, but director Justin Simien avoids that with fantastic skill. I don't think I've seen a director use such a blend of overt and subtle elements (and humor) since Stanley Kubric. I'm reminded of the classic line from Kubric's "Doctor Strangelove": "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the war room!".

Outspoken, biracial student Sam White (yes, 'White,' I love this movie) is the show-stealer. At first, I groaned, thinking she was going to be a one-dimensional Malcolm X-esque character, limited to diatribes about race. But the movie seems to deride Sam's single-minded approach and offsets it by depicting her struggle with her own racial identity. Is she just doing this because she needs to "pick a side?" Is America's struggle with racism really over and this is all in her head? Just like director Simien, I won't give my thoughts on the matter. But I will point out the film's one minor flaw. Ironically, the movie only fails with it's sort-of villain, the privileged son of the university president, who's basically just a one-dimensional character. Honestly, this just highlights what the film does best everywhere else: showing us that the world is not black and white, just a whole lot of gray. Imagine that. 10/10.

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Short Review:

This movie does the message-type story right: remain impartial and make fun of both sides in a constructive way. It's actually kind of genius. This is one of the best movies of 2014 and easily the smartest.