Essential doc coming at the right time

hellbind

score 10/10

I am only beginning to discover the work of James Baldwin, such was the insularity of my high school and college experiences decades ago. Raoul Peck has done a masterful job of conjuring Baldwin's words (through the voice of Samuel L. Jackson) and examines the unfinished process of trying to write about the assassinations of Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X. This is a heady task for anyone, much less a friend to all three, and to hear Baldwin's own words on the matter of race in mid-century America is heartbreaking and brutally honest. Mr. Peck has done a fabulous job of designing his study of Baldwin's writing, and the curated text is especially appropriate for our tortured 2010s. This movie should be required viewing.

hellbind 9 February 2017

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3636962/