Getting Defensive:
Reviews of "Deacons for Defense" And "Good Fences"

By Esther Iverem
SeeingBlack.com Editor and Film Critic

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The cadres of Southern Black church-going men who armed themselves to protect Black communities during the Civil Rights Movement have all but been forgotten as narratives about non-violent protest and strategy predominate in books and films. But a new on Showtime (check listings) tells the important and little-known story of the "Deacons For Defense," which formed in Bogalusa, La., in response to virulent regional Ku Klux Klan violence that was not yielding in the face of desegregation law.

It is so refreshing and impressive to see this type of story, which has something new and real to say about Black history, that it is easy to forgive the film's deficiencies. Forest Whitaker does a decent job starring as Marcus, a factory worker who evolves from a compliant Negro into a gun-toting race man, intent on protecting Civil Rights protesters, desegregating his workplace and public accommodations, and ending lynchings, beatings and other intimidation.

The story, based on a book by journalist Michael D'Antonio, puts at the heart of Marcus's transformation the physical assault on his daughter, who is struck by a police officer during a downtown student civil rights protest. During Marcus's defense of her, he physically restrains the police officer with a chokehold and lands in jail. When he emerges, he bears the signs of a brutal beating. In "Deacons For Defense," men become militant after they have been personally brutalized by racism, rather than because a neighbor or the larger community has been wronged. In this sense, Marcus's big transformation, which is somewhat sudden and needs more foundation, is better understood in the context of his role as a protective husband and father.

Similarly, the characters of two White civil rights workers who have been dispatched to the town need a little bit more flesh to be believable. We need to hear and see more to understand why two young, Northern White lawyers are risking their lives in the Deep South, and why they are so gung-ho about non-violence, and apprehensive about the deacons, even though the deacons protect them from sure danger or death.

Director Bill Duke and his editors make creative use of a mixture of color and black-and-white footage to re-create the sense of real history. Neighborhood and protest scenes shot for this movie are edited along with actual historical footage of civil rights demonstrators—not necessarily originating from Bogalusa—being attacked and arrested by police. Similar use is made of actual or re-created news broadcasts that detailed the growing danger in the town.

As in real life, many of the Black men who took up arms with the deacons—which ultimately had many chapters across the South—were military veterans who had fought in World Wars I or II, or in Korea, but were still denied basic rights in their own country. This story is one of the few that shows how Black veterans were still intent, long after the end of World War II, to score that "Double V" for victory, both abroad and at home.

Good Fences, Bad Ambitions

Thank god for "Good Fences," both the kind between good neighbors and the new film by the same name on Showtime (check listings). Sure, it has its made-for-TV moments—some choppy editing and an uneven tone—but these deficiences are outweighed by the compelling and artfully told tale of one upwardly mobile Black family during the 1970's.

Set during a time when the civil rights and Black power movements had given birth to many individualistic achievers, "Good Fences" poses questions about the definition of achievement and "making it." In this case, a success-obsessed attorney Tom Spader (Danny Glover) is determined to make his way out of the legal research basement and up the career ladder, even if it means working in opposition to his own people and community. Standing by Tom's side is his silent wife, Mabel (Whoopi Goldberg), who knows better and sometimes challenges her husband's decisions but largely does not, as the family moves from a middle class neighborhood in Hamden, Connecticut to the nearby wealthy and WASPy community of Greenwich.

Director Ernest Dickerson gives the story, based on a novel by Erika Ellis and a teleplay by Trey Ellis, the oddball texture of a twisted 70's fairy tale. The feel is more surreal than funny as Tom is willing to literally "tom" his way to the top, as Mabel endures endless meetings with chattering, neurotic PTA wives and their daughter Stormy evolves into a Black Farah Fawcett-wannabe. But, as seen primarily through the eyes of Mabel, the whole world is loopy. She runs into an old boyfriend, for example, the one who her father wanted her to marry, and discovers that he is just as nuts as her husband but less socially successful. His latest scheme involves mail-order pork.

When a Black, recent lottery winner from Florida (Mo'Nique), with obvious around-the-way credentials, moves in next door to the Spaders, all hell breaks loose. Tom believes his family will be blamed for "inviting" her and he thinks his upward mobility—he hopes to make it to the state Supreme Court—is about the end.

Throughout, "Good Fences" gets into the hearts of minds of Tom and Mabel. While Tom isn't afraid to sell-out in order to "make it," we learn that he is not simply foolish but has adopted a twisted response to his own terror at the hands of Whites. And while the story sets him up as the primary boogeyman, it is obvious that Mabel is complicit in her silence while she battles her own demons as well. What a treat that, so soon after the stellar "Antwone Fisher," to have another film that gives attention to the ways African-Americans struggle within while struggling with the outside world. "Good Fences" adds a dimension to the manner in which film has depicted Black families, class conflict and the 1970's, a decade that continues to define us today.

Esther Iverem's reviews often appear on BET.com and Africana.com.

-- February 28, 2003

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