Within the Seventies, a white South African woman named Mahree Bok (Lindsey Haun) goes to the USA to stick with a black household as a part of an trade program and is shocked to study that apartheid doesn’t exist there. You’ll be able to’t assist however shudder on the premise of The colour of friendshipparticularly contemplating it is a DCOM that was launched in 2000. That is what you would be stunned to learn the way black director Kevin Hooks and black author Paris Quallers are keen to go that far by refusing to tug any punches of their efficient depiction of race relations on this movie primarily based on a real story.
When Mahree arrives in the USA, she awkwardly refuses to shake fingers together with her host mom, Roscoe Dellums (Penny Johnson Jerald), and laughs with uncomfortable hysterics when she meets her host father, Congressman Ron Dellums (Carl Lumbly), stunned. that somebody in energy may very well be Black. By way of a sequence of occasions, together with a younger black lady named Piper Dellums (Shadia Simmons) providing meals to Mahree, Mahree’s veil of ignorance is slowly lifted and the 2 notice that they’ve quite a bit in frequent. One of the highly effective scenes exhibits Mahree educating Piper concerning the varied classifications of black individuals in South Africa. In it, the N-word is talked about twice in a TV-G-rated DCOM.
Shit will get actually actual when the police kill Steve Biko, an actual South African anti-apartheid activist. Mahree replies, “Who cares? “Only a loopy terrorist who dedicated suicide.” Piper freaks out, rightfully so, and Congressman Dellums teaches her concerning the vicious cycle of apartheid. It’s then that Mahree understands how the system oppresses black individuals and what the black liberation motion in South Africa is preventing for.
Not a typical Disney film, huh?
Simply look Bear in mind the titans: One other Disney movie about desegregation in the USA within the Seventies that was launched in 2000 and is predicated on a real story. In contrast to The colour of friendship, Bear in mind the titans It stars one of many best actors of all time (Denzel Washington) and is extensively thought-about a basic. Nonetheless, it’s inconceivable to disregard how Gary Bertier and Julius Campbell merely “remedy” racism at a late-night apply after they yell “left aspect, robust aspect” at one another. From there, racial tensions dissipate.
The colour of friendship ends with Mahree returning residence to her racist mother and father in South Africa, and revealing to the household’s black maid, Flora, that she secretly embroidered the black liberation flag on her jacket. Racism shouldn’t be solved. The truth is, he’s nonetheless round and Mahree could also be in peril if she expresses her new views.
The colour of friendship is Disney’s least Disney film on this record, which was maybe made potential by it being hidden on the smaller display screen. Whereas the movie implies that racism is a factor of the previous in America, the way in which it demonstrates how ignorance develops, educates younger viewers about apartheid, and exhibits the commonalities between all individuals (no matter colour of your pores and skin) makes The colour of friendship A captivating repetition.
