Entertainment Binge

By Isaac White

Well, how do everyone? I have to say that as I write this, I’m pretty happy. The 49ers dramatically won the NFC Championship. Remember I told you how great sports are for drama? It got me thinking about how awesome it is when a filmmaker or series creator takes events that happened IRL, as the young folks say. As an aside, I love it when I hear contemporary slang and ask my son if he knows what it means. Why? It’s funny when he looks at me like, “Of course I do, Rakeni.” Then he will ask me where I heard it and it’s a whole funny thing. I find it amusing. It’s a call back for me to when I was young and up on the new stuff, and my Mom would ask me those kinds of questions.

But back to the matter at hand. This week, I have some material that I think will be enjoyable for all of you, and one that plays right into real life is the best theater there is. After all, it’s pretty clear that throughout humans creating their own stories, the writer or storyteller is often drawing, at least partially, from personal experiences or accounts of events they’ve heard. Characters created that are an amalgamation of friends, family, or even foes.

Why not? Real life is an experience that is filled with all of the things that we enjoy in life. It’s also the source of the pain we all go through. But one of the most fulfilling things in life is to see someone pull off a feat despite monumental opposition and many obstacles in their way. The first piece I’m going to present is just that. It is truly a refreshing and heartening look at a legendary figure in the civil rights movement.

Rustin is a 2023 film directed by George C. Wolfe, who you may know from Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. I want to touch on Ma Rainey for a minute (Did that sound inappropriate? I’m doing some editing and realized that might sound a bit naughty, ha ha ha). If you haven’t seen that picture, you should check it out. I found it to be a delight if I’m honest. The movie has an excellent cast, led by Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman in his final role before he passed away. I know it’s messed up that Black Panther is no longer with us. He was a phenomenal actor, entirely charismatic, and a joy to watch. I don’t have much space, but you should take that film.

I was looking forward to Rustin as I knew Wolf’s work on Ma Rainey. Then, I was delighted that he teamed up with Colman Domingo, who portrayed Bayard Rustin as a significant person in the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Now, I must admit that I knew nothing about the man. Though I have always been fascinated with the movement to shatter Jim Crow and push the fight for equality of all people, and I’ve done my fair share of reading on the movement and watched more than a couple of documentaries, I didn’t know who Mr. Rustin was.

When I looked him up to better understand his work, his picture seemed familiar. Whatever, it doesn’t matter. I’m simply trying to express that I didn’t know him and that it’s nothing to fret over if you don’t. You learn quite a bit from this film. From my understanding, the movie fairly represents how things went down.

Bayard Rustin (Domingo) was a gay black man who refused to hide who he was. He was unafraid to put himself out on the front lines to force the powers that be to see him and the other black Americans who were being abused and discriminated against at every turn. In fact, at one point in the film, we learn that the reason Bayard had some disfigured teeth on one side of his mouth is that he stood toe to toe with racists and kept true to his non-violence beliefs. The altercation led to his teeth being permanently lost, and some were crooked.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the movie was Rustin’s extremely close relationship with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I’m going to go out on a ledge and assume you all know who that is. It was fascinating to learn that the pair were so close that Bayard exclaimed at one point that he had introduced MLK to the doctrine of non-violent passive resistance.

We don’t see MLK all that much in the movie. Perhaps I should say he’s not precisely featured. The story stays true to telling the story of Bayard Rustin, and that’s good. The plot focuses on the 1963 march on the Washington Mall, the largest protest to this day. The march was the brainchild of Rustin, and we see his masterful machinations to make sure that it came to fruition.

We see the conflicts behind the scenes of the various Black civil rights organizations such as the NAACP and SNCCC. Just as in monumental tasks that require coordination on a massive scale, there were disagreements. But as we all know from history, things ended up working out. Fortunately for us as viewers, we get an insight into how it came to be. It’s a beautiful thing to watch unfold on the screen.

I urge you all to watch this film. I’m biased because this falls into the sort of films I adore—political battles. Fight for justice. People are coming together to combat the world’s inequalities for the betterment of those whom the establishment puts aside. There is one other thing that pleased me about this film. Colman Domingo was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in this movie. I haven’t watched all of the nominated films, but I would be so happy for him to win. He was phenomenal. The movie was great and deserves recognition. Worth your time. Check it out.

I will close out on a film that goes the other way. Absolute fantasy. Also, this is a prequel movie to a cherished childhood entry. Wonka is a 2023 film directed by Paul King, starring Timothee Chalamet as Willy Wonka. I’m willing to bet that if you’re reading this every week, you’ve seen the original film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory from 1971 starring Gene Wilder.

As I already said, Wonka is a prequel to the original movie. Yes, I know that I can be a grump about prequels, and I stand by my position that, most of the time, I’m correct in being skeptical. Do you know why? Because a lot of the time, they’re not that good. This one? It’s great. I’m not being hyperbolic, either. This movie is entirely excellent.

We see a young Wonka arrive in the city where he expects to wow the people with his imaginative and unique chocolate creations. I refuse to throw you many spoilers because the movie is such a treat you deserve to be clean going in to view it. I’ll tell you this; however, right from the start, you see the difference in the man Wonka is when he first arrives, compared to the man he is when Gene Wilder takes up the role in the original movie.

Willy is a bright-eyed and, quite frankly, naïve young man. He is preyed upon, abused by the police, the powerful chocolate cartel big shots, and even by a wash service. Trust me, you’ll see it, and I can’t say too much without ruining it.

He ends up with a cohort of fellow down-on-their-luck individuals, and despite their situations, Willy manages to bring light into their dismal plights. Throughout the film, you see that Willy is nearly entirely selfless regarding material things. He truly wants to bring his chocolate to the world. Yes, he wants to sustain himself and be a success. But as you progress through the film, you’ll see that ambition isn’t born out of personal greed or self-interest. He’s doing it to make something right from his life that must be seen through. That part of the story is incredibly touching and is such a divergence from the original.

You know, in the original movie, Wonka almost seems a bit cruel, isn’t the word, but he’s certainly happy to inflict harsh lessons on those who need it. That’s not who Willy is in this film. He’s a young man willing to sacrifice everything for his friends. It’s just an entirely different vibe from the original. That’s a good thing. I still love the old movie; I always will.

This one is just…different in a beautiful way. I love the collaboration between the characters who befriend Willy. The way they all go in together to support each other is lovely. I don’t know how anyone wouldn’t get a nice, warm feeling from watching them band together and rely on one another.

I know what you’re all thinking, and I was saving it for the end. Yes, there are Oompa Loompas. Hugh Grant plays the leading orange man (not the bloated one who was president at one time), and it’s quite the story of how we are introduced to why Oompa Loompas are around Willy. It’s pretty remarkable. You see, Willy gets a bit of the treatment the Oompa Loompas dealt out to the people in the original movie. It’s hilarious, and while Grant is used sparingly throughout the film, you will not be disappointed when he is there.

Before you get upset, yes, there is also music. I think the songs are great and on par with the original. I know that may not be very important to some of you, but that was one of the best parts of the original. The music and the songs helped bring everything together and keep the movie fun.

Oompa Loompa Doopity Doo…

I better go before I start typing out the whole darn song. Watch Wonka. I ADORE this movie, and I think you will as well.

Thanks for reading, and until next week…..