Post by klep on Jan 15, 2018 7:43:00 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 1/15: Daughters of the Dust
WOMEN OF COLOR WEEK!
Chattel slavery destroyed the connections people abducted from Africa had with their homelands and their families. But at least in one isolated community on the islands off of Georgia and South Carolina they were able at least to hold on to their traditions, developing a culture and language unique among African Americans - the Gullah. Times change however, and the end of Reconstruction led to increased persecution of the emancipated, and the promise of prosperity drew many of them north in the Great Migration - threatening this strong cultural tradition.
Daughters of the Dust is set on the day of departure for one Gullah family as they decide to seek their fortune in the north. But not all of them are happy about the migration. Conflict is flaring up between the Peazant family's matriarch Nana (Cora Lee Day) and the younger generations who are more eager to leave.
What scares Nana is that her children and her children's children don't understand the importance of their traditions. Swept up by Christianity and more typical American culture, many of Nana's descendants dismiss her rituals and totems as heathen nonsense. But they were born after slavery ended. They don't get how vital those things were for Nana and her parents and their parents and so on to keeping their culture - keeping their family alive. Only Nana's generation remembers what it was like to be under the yoke - to have their hands stained by indigo dye, to see their families ripped apart. It's only the older generation that feels the vital importance of keeping that connection to the past alive, that they are guaranteed to have something to pass on.
Julie Dash's film resists a straightforward narrative. Roger Ebert called it in his review a 'tone poem' - a term which has largely become a joke today but which is nonetheless appropriate. The film is full of monologues delivered in distinctive voices over beautiful footage of the island and haunting music. It slips between scenes with the ease and languor of a lazy summer day, and returns to hit certain themes again and again. Oftentimes the words of the Gullah creole can be difficult to make out or understand and are deliberately left unsubtitled, as though we're supposed to feel them more than hear them. I've described similar films as 'symphonic' or 'dreamlike', but neither of those words seem to fit. Instead it's more like a vision - of times past and of times to come.
As the day closes some family leaves and some stays. It's unclear whether any are right or wrong or if this is just the way things change. But there's still a sense of loss - of things that might have been - which stretches back further than the memories of the characters in the film, all the way back to the shores of Africa.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 1/22: Diabolique
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM WEEK!
Clouzot's twisty story of intrigue and murder is our next Movie of the Week! Join us next week for our discussion of our pick for Foreign Language Film Week. Diabolique is available on Filmstruck's Criterion channel, and on Amazon Video where it is free for Prime members.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 1/11: I, Tonya
The new film about infamous figure skater Tonya Harding is the subject of the second part of this week's podcast, and we'll have a thread for it next Wednesday! Liam Haber has graciously offered to provide us with an essay since I am unable to see it myself. If you're luckier than me, I, Tonya may be in a theater near you.
WOMEN OF COLOR WEEK!
Chattel slavery destroyed the connections people abducted from Africa had with their homelands and their families. But at least in one isolated community on the islands off of Georgia and South Carolina they were able at least to hold on to their traditions, developing a culture and language unique among African Americans - the Gullah. Times change however, and the end of Reconstruction led to increased persecution of the emancipated, and the promise of prosperity drew many of them north in the Great Migration - threatening this strong cultural tradition.
Daughters of the Dust is set on the day of departure for one Gullah family as they decide to seek their fortune in the north. But not all of them are happy about the migration. Conflict is flaring up between the Peazant family's matriarch Nana (Cora Lee Day) and the younger generations who are more eager to leave.
What scares Nana is that her children and her children's children don't understand the importance of their traditions. Swept up by Christianity and more typical American culture, many of Nana's descendants dismiss her rituals and totems as heathen nonsense. But they were born after slavery ended. They don't get how vital those things were for Nana and her parents and their parents and so on to keeping their culture - keeping their family alive. Only Nana's generation remembers what it was like to be under the yoke - to have their hands stained by indigo dye, to see their families ripped apart. It's only the older generation that feels the vital importance of keeping that connection to the past alive, that they are guaranteed to have something to pass on.
Julie Dash's film resists a straightforward narrative. Roger Ebert called it in his review a 'tone poem' - a term which has largely become a joke today but which is nonetheless appropriate. The film is full of monologues delivered in distinctive voices over beautiful footage of the island and haunting music. It slips between scenes with the ease and languor of a lazy summer day, and returns to hit certain themes again and again. Oftentimes the words of the Gullah creole can be difficult to make out or understand and are deliberately left unsubtitled, as though we're supposed to feel them more than hear them. I've described similar films as 'symphonic' or 'dreamlike', but neither of those words seem to fit. Instead it's more like a vision - of times past and of times to come.
As the day closes some family leaves and some stays. It's unclear whether any are right or wrong or if this is just the way things change. But there's still a sense of loss - of things that might have been - which stretches back further than the memories of the characters in the film, all the way back to the shores of Africa.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 1/22: Diabolique
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM WEEK!
Clouzot's twisty story of intrigue and murder is our next Movie of the Week! Join us next week for our discussion of our pick for Foreign Language Film Week. Diabolique is available on Filmstruck's Criterion channel, and on Amazon Video where it is free for Prime members.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 1/11: I, Tonya
The new film about infamous figure skater Tonya Harding is the subject of the second part of this week's podcast, and we'll have a thread for it next Wednesday! Liam Haber has graciously offered to provide us with an essay since I am unable to see it myself. If you're luckier than me, I, Tonya may be in a theater near you.