Review of Suburbicon (2017) by Sandy M — 23 Apr 2018

A dark satire with a few dark comedic elements involving two seemingly unconnected plot points: 1) racism. 2) white privilege. The only thing connecting the two story lines is the two innocent boys who are neighbors.-who are the real victims of their tragic circumstances brought about by the greedy & deceitful adults who make up their world. A well-acted satire where, in the end, tdespite all the despicable deeds being done, the two boys show there is hope for a future where skin color doesn't matter. I enjoyed the satirical twists throughout the movie and the 'Leave it to Beaver' feel of the 1950s projected on the surface but with very sinister underpinnings. While, likely, not what Clooney meant to convey, my take-away is that white privilege isn't all what it's cracked up to be. I can't imagine anyone wanting to "fit in" or switch places with the seemingly white privileged neighbors next door where the man of the house maintains his white privilege status by being in hock up to his eyeballs to the mob resulting in their goons going after the man's family-what some white folks won't do to "keep up with the Jonses' in their hood. So much for "white privilege!" Fake people leading fake lives-" yeah, let's move in and integrate into that world, honey'" said no sane or moral person ever if they knew what they didn't know before making that decision.

That said, I would have changed-up the story a bit to provide another satirical twist where, unbeknownst to everyone, the white auntie & the black dad next door were responsible for offing Matt Damon, taking all the insurance money & running off to Aruba, leaving the white boy with the black Mom to raise as her own, with her marrying the uncle & raising the two boys as brothers in the end. Would've tied the two storylines together nicely & would've stuck the middle finger up at the hateful white community too boot!