Produced by Spike Lee and selected at the Deauville Festival in 2021, A Southern Son tells of the movement of the African-American population that fought for the defence and recognition of its civil rights in the 1960s. Diving in the heart of Alabama!
The bus of hope
Worked for nearly ten years on the script, Barry Alexander Brown, Spike Lee's host, was appointed to the Oscar for his work on BlacKkKlansman: I infiltrated Ku Klux Klan, received the blessing of the director of Summer of Sam, here executive producer, to carry out his project.
Adapted from Bob Zellner's autobiography (The wrong side of Murder Creek: A white sister in the freedom movement), A Southern Son So tells the story of Bob Zellner, a Southerner who grew up in hatred of black people (he is the grandson of a member of the Ku Klux Klan) who, following a duty on race relations, meets Rosa Parks.
This same Rosa Parks, which in 1955 became famous for refusing to leave its place on a bus, allowing an entire community to rise and insurgent. Built as a symbol, this action will cause a fringe of the African-American population to occupy these buses in protest.
Influenced by the thought of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and this meeting, Zellner sees his vision change. From a simple witness to an actor in the protest movement, he will assert their rights and actively participate in the emancipation of the black cause.
From Spike Lee-like mollsson
If the story turns out to be exciting thanks to the journey of his main character, it is quite different from the creation of Barry Alexander Brown who tries to sing Spike Lee's style without having the talent. The film turns out to be a bit bland with a very sad TV patina despite the use of cinemascope.
The bus attack by the local population, one of the central scenes of the feature film, was supposed to be the great moment of the work since showing Zellner's internal shift from simple witness to actor of the black cause. Unfortunately, it is nothing of this kind, since the scene is extremely linear and without any emphasis. And that's a shame because, to stick to reality, the director made the choice of filming on the very scene where the action took place some 60 years ago.
« I was just a dressmaker who was tired of her work day. »
Casting, even bell sound. It is always nice to see this old trick of Brian Dennehy (Rambo, Cocoon or the excellent Deal with a killer) in what was his last role in cinema (he died in 2020), this is not the case of Lucas Till (the reboot of the series MacGyver) which has absolutely no charisma. The actor prefers to play it cool all along despite the gravity of the scenes (especially hanging).
Without being unpleasant, A Southern Son therefore deserved a more powerful realization in order to awaken consciousness; especially as this tumultuous period of America tends to repeat itself today. A Southern Son is available on DVD at Blaq Out since August 23.
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