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Last Updated: May 30th, 2008 - 11:49:13 |
Don’t let the guns and gold teeth fool you.
Despite its formulaic gangsta trappings and just-O.K. script, “Waist Deep” is an intense you-and-me-against-the-world drama that is saved by Vondie Curtis-Hall’s savvy direction and on-point acting by Tyrese Gibson.
The story, based in South-Central Los Angeles, is that a security guard named Otis (Gibson) is trying to walk the straight-and-narrow after serving six years in prison on theft-related charges. One day, after his cousin fails to pick up his son from school, Otis is forced to leave work abruptly to get him. After the pick-up, Otis is carjacked while his son is sleeping on the back seat. In the resulting gunfight and chase on the street to retrieve his boy, Otis is drawn back into the world of crime that he is trying to steer clear of (and that will give him a “third strike” pass back to prison).
In the steady and predictable drumbeat of our urban dramas, that are usually about somebody trying to get paid, get over or get even, it is refreshing to see somebody on the big screen trying to save the life of a Black child. What a concept—the lives of our children are more important than rims, ice, Rolexes or whatever. And Otis is a Black man not only caring for his child but giving his all for him.
Maybe this theme strikes a soft spot in my cold critic’s heart but it does strike it. Maybe because I think Tyrese is gifted, I am giving him more credit than he deserves in this movie. But I don’t think so. The sequence beginning with the carjacking and ending with his street chase is one of the most intense I have seen. Tyrese’s role is certainly the most meaningful I have seen played by a young Black actor in some time. In the rabble that passes for popular entertainment, I am always looking for something real and healing, like a Mary J. solo, that reinforces our humanity and soul, rather than a soul-less striving for hollow materialism.
There are some silly contrivances, designed I suppose to keep the story moving, but they are still silly—like the kingpin named Meat with the one bad eye who operates a criminal empire out of a warehouse, with drug trafficking, extortion and various other rackets. And, of course, despite Otis’s level of intensity, which has caused him to shoot men and commit armed robbery, there is still time for him to get busy with his partner in crime Coco (Meagan Goode), who, in another scene, also strips to her bra and panties for the camera. (Can’t have urban drama without urban sex appeal!)
I give credit to Curtis-Hall for, even within the narrow confines of what Hollywood accepts as a Black or “urban” film, delivering a story that honors us, just like we honor and cheer other narratives about the search and love for children. (Mel Gibson in “Ransom,” Denzel Washington in “Man on Fire”). Some credit is due to Tyrese for countering the hip hop generation’s Peter Pan syndrome and even appearing on the big screen as a father.
Esther Iverem’s latest book of poems, Living in Babylon, is available on Amazon.com
© Copyright 2006 SeeingBlack.com
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