Movie Review: “American Promise”

No spoiler alert here!

Yesterday, I was sent a link for a movie trailer:  http://www.americanpromise.org/. At first when I visited the site, I was thinking, “another sad story about our youth”. After I watched the trailer I said, “I have to see this movie, TONIGHT”  Last night I went to E Street Cinema downtown DC to watch the 7:30pm show of American Promise. http://www.landmarktheatres.com/Index.htm  The E Street venue usually shows really good quality movies that don’t just follow status quo of what is comfortable for society. You’re not going to see the blockbuster movies here but you will come away with a good discussion piece from just about any movie there. E street shows movies that hit home with a cinematic candor that you don’t want or need watered down.  The really good stories about the black experience are rarely on the major venues so I was hopeful and curious last night.

I’m not going to spoil the movie for anyone nor am I going to become a critic and inject my own opinions. My blog will always be positive so here goes.

I wasn’t overwhelmed with this movie,[that’s a bad way to start] but wait. 🙂  I didn’t come away with some new understanding of my own childhood or revelation about being a man. As a grown man, I could comprehend what was happening in the movie. The stages of maturity represented in the movie were not something foreign to me. However, to any young black male, this movie has a value beyond any movie I’ve seen. It takes the viewer through a candid journey from adolescence to maturity. You, the viewer, witness the happiness, sadness, perseverance, and triumph in the incremental years of a maturing young man. You see the repercussions of decisions both good and bad. A young black boy has an evolving comprehension, and this movie provides two real life examples of the “middle passage”. The evolution of Idris and Seun would help any young black male in these “middle passage” years navigate a little better. “American Promise” walks you through the lives of Idris and Seun. It takes you through the challenges they face through their educational timeline. The movie provides a platform where any young viewer can examine the parallels of their own lives and possibly replicate the triumphs. Any adult can appreciate this movie, but young black boys NEED to see this movie. If you have children, especially young black boys, take them to see this movie!

The movie wasn’t overwhelmingly racial, not at all. To whites without an understanding of the black experience, some movies can be slightly abrasive. Don’t get me wrong, some movies NEED to be abrasive to give a circumstance the proper relevance.  In this movie, the message was not lost in the offensiveness of the implied guilt of racism. For the average white person that may not have an understanding of the experience, this movie has a topical amount of the racial dispute. You don’t get lost in a militant message that massages just one race or gender. I was impressed by how the movie touched on so many relevant discussions and categories that parallel my concerns for our young men. I could not resist blogging about it to hope that others see this movie.

My motivation for setting up this blog is to assist young positive black boys to manhood. I don’t exclude anyone but my target audience is young black boys. To my followers you all know this…and thanks for continuing to follow. I’ve never used the blog for a movie review but I must endorse this movie based on an aligned objective of helping young black boys.

MPM

Related articles

• Film: Movie Review: American Promise (avclub.com)
• Movie Review: ‘American Promise,’ a Documentary on Dalton Students (nytimes.com)