It's 2:30 in the morning.
Why the hell am I still awake?
Anyway...
"Jungle Fever" is on HBO so I figured, what the heck. I'd check it out.
I had forgotten what a good movie it is. Very powerful and packed with great acting and writing!
And, of course the countless Stevie Wonder tracks sprinkled throughout the movie are a perfect touch!
I don't know how I had managed to forget about the "War Counsel" meeting between - Drew (Lonette McKee), Vera (Veronica Webb), Nilda (Phyllis Yvonne Stickney), Inez (Theresa Randel) and Angela (Pamela Tyson)... where the five Black women meet to discuss Black men and White women after Flipper (Wesley Snipes) was caught with Angie (Annabella Sciorra).
The dialogue and the acting in this 8 minute section of the movie is absolutely stellar. These women are bringing real concerns and real feelings before the camera - whether they belong to the actresses or just the characters is beside the point. The performance is amazing.
I find it interesting that almost all of the things these women say I have either read on blogs or said on mine. It makes me wonder if Spike Lee was so far ahead of his time when he wrote this prior to '91 or are some of us men and women, Blacks and Whites still staring at each other across a chasm?
Other scenes that have passed since I fired my laptop up, which fall under the AMAZING category:
-Drew throwing all of Flipper's stuff out onto the street with a passionate yelling and screaming assault on him.
-Angie's father beating the hell out of her after he finds that she's sleeping with a Black man. Very dramatic.
-Ozzie Davis (Flipper's father) dramatically and stoically presenting his disgust of the relationship between his son and a White woman.
-The NYPD pulling up on Flipper and Angie while the two of them were play-wrestling and drawing their guns on Flipper after getting a call of a "Black man assaulting a White woman." With Flipper against a wall and a cop with his gun in Flipper's ear, Angie declares, "He's my lover! My boyfriend! Stop!" And Flipper is screaming in fear, "Shut up Angie! Shut up! We're just friends! I'm not her lover! She doesn't know what she's saying!"
What a powerful movie!
TTBM
4 comments:
Yeah..This movie is a classic for sure!
Hmmm.
Yes, it's a classic, but you talk about that 8-minute section and then you talk about Black and White still staring at each other across a chasm.
What about Black MEN and Black WOMEN still staring at each other across that chasm?
What do you think?
Hello ROCKMARA-
Yeah, I mentioned Blacks and Whites still staring across a chasm because the issue of Interracial dating was hot back in 91 when J.F. came out, and if you read a lot of blogs [including mine] we can clearly see that it is an issue that is even hotter today.
Thats why I said we're still staring at each other across this chasm. There are still lots of issues between the two.
As far as Black men and women still looking across a chasm... a different one, by the way... I agree. There are still many issues that need to be addressed and resolved here at home, in our community. Please browse my blog and check out some of my other posts where I elaborate on that!
Thanks for leaving a comment -
YOUR PAGE IS GREAT. IT REALLY HELPED ME UNDERSTAND THE TOPIC
- thethinkingblackman.blogspot.com q
spaghetti alla carbonara
Post a Comment