|
|
|
Last Updated: Oct 24th, 2008 - 12:25:58 |
As we hurtle toward this historic presidential election, Hollywood is presenting us with another story about a Black man with power gone awry. On the heels of the fascinating “Traitor,” starring Don Cheadle as a suspected terrorist, comes “Lakeview Terrace,” starring Samuel L. Jackson as a bigoted, neurotic officer of the LAPD.
What is so striking about “Lakeview Terrace” is not its emphasis on the officer, Abel Turner, as a black bigot but, rather, the flimsy treatment it gives both Turner and the interracial couple that moves next door to him. Certainly the film “Something New” raised the bar for films that attempt to depict black-white interracial relationships with sensitivity and meaningful dialogue. But little such dialogue occurs in “Lakeview Terrace” with the couple, played by Kerry Washington and Patrick Wilson, nor do we get an adequate reason, one that is not laughably superficial, for Turner’s aversion to and abuse of the young couple.
Instead, we are offered only shells of individuals, and snippets of lives and action. Despite the production’s emphasis on wild fires plaguing Southern California, it lacks the type of atmospheric treatment more worthy of the seriousness of the subject. By the sheer dint of his charisma, Jackson is able to make some memorable scenes from the meager script. He plays the tightly wound, kind of crazy Black man that we know and smile at—the kind who travels in a grumpy, profane fashion through most of his days and very often blames white people for his problems. But by even describing Turner in this fashion, I am giving the script too much credit. Certainly, his character is not given the type of complexity or redemption offered to white bigots in popular movies such as “Crash” and “Blood Diamond.”
Similarly, Washington shines in her role, which does highlight a shift in how different generations view interracial couples but does not give her any voice to say anything profound about black-white love from a black woman’s perspective.
Ultimately, it is because of this shallow treatment that “Lakeview Terrace” commits its biggest sin, belittling the history of racism in this country, making Black people the ones who lack racial tolerance and comparing deep race wounds to petty hurts of ego and pride. Surely, the experiences of we of darker hue are more complex than that.
A quick glance at the credits reveal actor Will Smith as one of the producers but even his participation has not altered the outcome. “Lakeview Terrace” is all dressed up with no place to go. It certainly has many enticing ingredients for the Hollywood drama—an interracial romance, neighborhood racial tension, action and a rogue cop. But even all these elements do not add up to anything new, especially not on the thorny issue of race.
This review also appeared on Tom Joyner's BlackAmericaWeb.com,/i>
You can order Esther Iverem's critically praised We Gotta Have It: Twenty Years of Seeing Black at the Movies, 1986-2006 (Thunder’s Mouth Press, April 2007)at Amazon.com or purchase at your favorite bookstore. It makes a wonderful gift! Thanks!
Read and search hundreds of reviews on SeeingBlack.com's Movies/TV channel and archive.
Click here to post a comment or your own review.
© Copyright 2006 SeeingBlack.com
Top of Page
|
|
|
|
