Tristan Wilds shines in "Red Tails."

There are moments in “Red Tails” that approach the movie dream that we dare to dream: that a daring action hero on the big screen is a Black man or woman beating down the bad guy and saving the day. The well-intentioned media and community campaign to support this fictionalized account of the legendary World War II Tuskegee Airmen, (that film mogul George Lucas reportedly spent $58 million of his own money to make), honors our dream, as well as the harsh reality that few, if any, Black cast films are greenlit in Hollywood with this kind of budget and promotion. Email messages are flying around cyberspace and Black radio hosts are urging Black people to support the film lest there be no more opportunities like this again.


All that being said, cheering for “Red Tails,” might be limited. Even though the film recounts discrimination faced by these pilots in the military, it suffers from serious lapses in depicting African American life and introduces one of the most awkward romances ever seen on the big screen. As the mother of a Black male, I am especially sensitive to the idea that Black boys should see these kinds of Black action heroes. But what about all the little Black girls? What about our entire community? One of the biggest mistakes made by director Anthony Hemingway in this, his first feature film, is excluding any hint that the Tuskegee Airmen had Black wives, girlfriends and families back home during a pivotal time when Black people were fighting for the “Double V,” meaning a victory in the war abroad and a victory in the war at home against racism.


This is a visible omission through the production and set design (not even a pin-up of Lena Horne? Really?), as well as an omission in the script. To be fair, Cuba Gooding Jr. told me in an interview that there was a love relationship featuring the singer Jazmine Sullivan, which was edited out of the final version, even though Hemingway fought to keep it. Omitting any Black woman from the story also leaves too much emphasis on the interracial love story between the bravest pilot, Joe “Lightning” Little, played by David Oyelowo and a woman in Italy, where the 332nd Fighter Group was stationed. Only a snapshot of this White love interest graces the cockpit of these pilots, that is, other than a picture of "Black Jesus" held onto by another pilot and treated like a joke in the narrative. Makes it seem like the Tuskegee Airmen were fighting for Jesus and White women. I don't know whether to laugh or sigh.


Due to, in equal parts, the direction, acting and script by John Ridley and Aaron McGruder, “Red Tails” includes some scenes, especially at the start, that are stiff and clunky. Though Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr. are very talented, they do not bring the historical gravitas to their roles as military officers. Oyelowo, who has played smaller parts in “The Help” and “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” is a standout, despite the frequently awkward material, and the camera loves the fresh-faced Tristan Wilds (“The Wire”).


When “Red Tails” unveiled its comic book-styled poster at last year’s New York Comic Con convention, the poster hinted that the movie would be in the style of old-fashioned comic book heroes. The Tuskegee pilot pictured says, “Die, you Nazi dog!” Sadly, the final film does not have the whimsy of the comic action serial, or the seriousness of a historical war narrative, as other movies about the Tuskegee Airmen in the past have had. This George Lucas-backed production does not disappoint in the action department; the aerial fight scenes are the best thing about it. If only "Red Tails" could have been as high-flying in depicting the human complexities that made the Tuskegee Airmen heroes and champions, abroad and at home.

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