15 Important Movies About Race to Start (or Continue) the Conversation
- 1/16
15 Important Movies About Race to Start (or Continue) the Conversation
Movies give us a unique opportunity to sit in the dark and experience a world outside of our own. By turning on a film, we can walk in someone else's shoes for a couple of hours, explore countries, cities, and neighborhoods we may never otherwise see, get a peek into a different perspective, and learn about history in a way that doesn't feel like a lesson. If you've ever sat in a movie theater in stunned silence for a couple of seconds after an amazing movie rolls the credits, you already know what we're talking about.
For those of us who are trying to broaden our worldviews, giving the reins to Black and POC filmmakers is a great way to do that. Movies have a unique ability to get under the skin and stick there, thanks to powerful imagery, impactful storytelling, and transformative performances. And if you don't already seek out films by Black creators, there's no time like the present moment. In a time when many of us are looking for ways to combat racism in our society, diversifying our entertainment diet is one small, but meaningful step. Some of these are free to rent on Amazon, others available on Netflix or Hulu, and the rest are well worth a couple bucks to rent.
- 2/16
1) Do The Right Thing
This 1989 Spike Lee production brings us into a steamy day in the rapidly changing Brooklyn neighborhood of Bed-Stuy. What starts as an argument escalates into violence, in this movie that looks directly at racial tension. It also includes a dedication to those who died by police brutality, which feels all too fitting today.
RELATED: 20 Best Books About Anti-Racism to Educate Yourself
- 3/16
2) I Am Not Your Negro
James Baldwin passed away before he had a chance to finish Remember This House, a manuscript that examined race in America through his memories of Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Medgar Evers. This powerful film, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, finishes the story.
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- 4/16
3) Selma
If you think you know the Martin Luther King, Jr. story, watch this Ava DuVernay documentary to continue your education. It chronicles the historic Alabama march to work for equal rights, as well as the period of unrest that surrounded it.
RELATED: What Is the Answer to Overcoming Racism in America?
- 5/16
4) 13th
By shining a light on the prison system, this Emmy Award-winning documentary by Ava DuVernay reveals the connections between mass incarceration and racial inequality in the U.S. If you've never given the connections between slavery and prisons much thought, this stunning documentary will open your eyes.
- 6/16
5) Get Out
The tagline for this Jordan Peele comedy-meets-horror film says it all. Interracial couple Chris and Rose go to visit Rose's parents for the weekend, and at first, they seem overly hospitable. But a much more sinister reality soon reveals itself.
RELATED: What Black Lives Matter Means (and Why It's Problematic to Say "All Lives Matter")
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- 7/16
6) The Hate U Give
Based on the bestselling YA novel by Angie Thomas, this movie follows Starr's journey into activism after she witnesses her best friend Khalil's death at the hands of police. Starr is straddling two worlds, as a student at a prep school who lives in an underprivileged neighborhood. It's a powerful film that's sadly timely today.
- 8/16
7) 12 Years a Slave
Experience the true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man from New York who gets abducted and sold into slavery. After a 12-year odyssey, he meets a Canadian abolitionist who will change his life forever.
- 9/16
8) If Beale Street Could Talk
Based on a novel by James Baldwin, this 1970s love story will at once expand and break your heart. Tish and Fonny are sweethearts from Harlem who get ripped apart when Fonny gets wrongly accused of a crime. Watch as Fonny navigates a criminal justice system stacked against him, while the couple tries to survive a world that is, too.
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- 10/16
9) Fruitvale Station
In a heavy but necessary film, Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan tell the true story of Oscar Grant, killed by police on the BART subway system. He's a son, a father, and a partner to his girlfriend, and his story deserves to be told.
- 11/16
10) Dear White People
For anyone who still struggles to understand how racism pervades everyday life, this satire can help. It follows four black students at an Ivy League university, as controversy breaks out over a party that features blackface.
- 12/16
11) Malcolm X
In this in-depth Spike Lee documentary, meet Malcolm X, the influential Black Nationalist leader. It delves into his childhood, his past as a small-time gangster, to his conversion to Islam and eventual assassination. If you don't know much about the man except his name, watch this.
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- 13/16
12) Moonlight
In a film that couldn't be more perfect for Pride month 2020, watch as Chiron grows up poor, gay, and Black in Miami and struggles to find his place in the world. It shows how multiple marginalized identities can stack the cards even higher against a person, and mentors can come from even unexpected places.
- 14/16
13) LA 92
In a documentary that feels more familiar now than ever, filmmakers reveal never-before-seen footage of the riots that erupted after the 1992 riots that erupted in Los Angeles after four police officers got acquitted after beating Rodney King.
- 15/16
14) Just Mercy
This illuminating legal drama tells the true story of Bryan Stevenson, a Harvard-educated lawyer who moves to Alabama to defend the most underserved. This film reveals the complex, and often racist battle he fights for Walter McMillian, a man on death row for murdering a teenage girl, despite convincing evidence to support his innocence.
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- 16/16
15) Rodney King
Directed by Spike Lee, Roger Guenveur Smith performs an affecting one-man show about the man whose horrifying police beating set off the LA Riots in 1992. Watch this to learn more about the man whose name you've probably heard, but whose whole story doesn't get much attention.
These films will get you talking.
