For all of you reading this blog who were born in the 1990s and beyond, let me tell you a story:
So basically, back in the day, white people took some Africans away from Africa, brought them back to the U.S., and made them slaves.
No, I'm not making this shit up.
Of course, this didn't last very long, and eventually slavery was abolished and black people were free.
(But not really.)
So some shit went down, riots ensued. Blacks were not allowed at white schools, not allowed to drink from white water fountains, not allowed to eat at white Denny's. Then true American heroes like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. rose up and said, "Hey, this needs to stop" and eventually it did. Segregation came to an end. Though, Denny's still has a hard time with this.
Flash forward a good 40 years, and you arrive at what we refer to as "America today". Segregation no longer exists, but racial inequalities continue to pervade this country. Sure, things are better than they were when Dr. King, Rosa Parks, and the rest of the leaders of the Civil Rights movement fought for change, but old traditions die hard. In other words, racism is still a bitch.
This brings me to the point of this post. Every so often, a piece of cinema arrives that strikes a chord with me. And then I imagine that my chords are the same chords that America shares, so I immediately begin speaking on behalf of the country.
For so many years, we've seen racism depicted on the big screen. Racist lawyers, racist cops, racist racists. But often, it's members of the Caucasian Persuasion persecuting members of the Brotha Coalition.
So what if the coin was flipped? What if the most racist motherfucker of all just so happened to be the blackest dude in the entire movie?
That's pretty much the plot of Lakeview Terrace, the new epic from director Neil LaBute, whose credits include Nurse Betty and the Wicker Man remake. Bascially, this dude has his finger on the pulse of quality cinema in the 2000s.
The film stars Samuel L. Jackson as a cop who has a problem with the interracial couple that moves in next door to him.
Now, see, let me stop right there. That premise all by itself is worth slapping down $10 for. I mean, Samuel L. Jackson terrorizing interracial couples? Where are my keys?!
On a side note, Samuel L. Jackson is something of an anomaly in Hollywood. While most actors are criticized for playing the same character in every movie they are in, Samuel L. Jackson has made an entire lucrative career off of playing Samuel L. Jackson.
Mace Windu? Samuel L. Jackson.
Jules Winfield? Samuel L. Jackson.
The dude who gets eaten in Deep Blue Sea? Half of Samuel L. Jackson.
Back to Lakeview Terrace. So to make a not-that-long story short, Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington move into the house next door to Samuel L. Jackson, and immediately Jackson takes notice. He's clearly obsessed with the fact that Wilson is white and Washington is black and there's something hideously wrong with this picture.
I guess I should stop right now and say that from this point on, I will be moving into spoiler territory for this film. So if you don't want to know how Samuel L. Jackson dies at the end, turn away from your computer and go back to jerking off to that re-run of 30 Minute Meals.
Any who, Jackson starts harassing Patrick Wilson, and the harassments escalate throughout the film. It's at this point we realize what's going on: this film is nothing more than a case study on reverse racism.
Jackson is the oppressive black neighbor. Wilson is the well-spoken innocent white husband.
....Or are they?
What if the reverse racism isn't reverse racism at all? What if it's just plain old ordinary racism....but reversed?
Now, I know what you're thinking, "But, Anonymous Blogger, that doesn't make any fucking sense." I know it doesn't. But just follow me on this one.
Everything about this movie is ass backwards. Patrick Wilson's character is white, but he listens to hip hop. Kerry Washington's character is black. But she hates hip hop. Samuel L. Jackson is a cop, AND he's racist. Does any of that make sense to you? It certainly didn't to me.
Even outside of the race issues, there's backwards ass shit going on in this movie. Kerry Washington and Patrick Wilson discuss having a child. Wilson is hesitant and wants to wait before making a decision like that. A respectable move. Washington, however, wants a child right fucking now.
So then, Washington bursts his bubble by announcing she's pregnant, this after skipping out on a few birth control pill sessions. Wilson is furious. Washington is furious at Wilson's furiousness.
.......WTF?
Elsewhere, Samuel L. Jackson (in full cop mode) busts up a dude who was beating on his wife. This motherfucker pulls out a shotgun and tries to kill Jackson, but Jackson dodges the bullets and pins the guy down. Then Jackson urges the guy to get his life back together after they take him down to the police station. Later we learn that Jackson is being suspended because he whacked the dude with the shotgun in the ribs and yelled at him.
.......WTF?
So with all of this ass backwardsness going on, what is the viewer supposed to conclude? Well, it's quite simple: everything in this film is reversed. Whites really represent blacks. Blacks really represent whites. Good really represents evil. Stupid shit really represents logic.
And that's when it dawned on me: this movie isn't about reverse racism at all. It's about conventional racism presented in a reverse way.
Lakeview Terrace is nothing more than an allegory for something we've already seen a thousand times. But when presented in a new, startlingly life-like way, it completely changes our perceptions on that very issue. The film's final scene includes a climactic Mexican stand-off (ironically not involving any Mexicans) in which Jackson and Wilson stare down each other's intolerance and point a gun at each other's bigotry. Then Jackson shoots Wilson, just as the cops gun down Jackson.
Wilson, the real black man, is shot only once. But Jackson, the racist white guy in this story, is shot multiple times by a variety of officers of a variety of races. Is this scene trying to say something beyond the fact that Samuel L. Jackson just got fucked up?
In modern history, cops are always overaggressive in their actions towards African-Americans, but here they go full on out at the white guy.
So, are times changing? Is prejudice now the hunted, instead of the hunter?
This is why America needs films like Lakeview Terrace. To challenge the status quo. To bring to light issues that have been broughten to light many, many, many, many, many times over, but never quite like this. And for this reviewer, it certainly was a life-changing experience.
B+
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