Friday, June 18, 2010

"Film Brought to Life"

It is evident that America faced uproar and turbulence during the 1960's and earlier parts of the 70's so many things occured Civil Rights Movement, Asssinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., the formation and influence of The Black Panther Party, Assinations of John and Bobby Kennedy, Water Gate Scandal, one thing that still peeks my interest is the Vietnam War well actually it was a conflict most people are unaware that it was actually never declared as a war.







One of my favorite films is "Dead Presidents" written by Michael Henry Brown and directed by The Hughes Brothers it is a crime drama film that was released in 1995 although it was based on  the real life experinces of Haywood T. Kirkland more of his story is told in the book Bloods: An Oral History of Vietnam War by Black Veterans  which was written by Wallace Terry.






I have seen many war movies that only touch basis with white audiences Pearl Harbor, Flags of Our Fathers, most recently Spike Lee did a great job on Miracle at St. Anna that shed some light on Black vets in World War II. Yet I feel as though this film was very much slept on it is gritty, intense, and brings about so many emotions. Many of our black soldiers were silenced and were not able to support themselves or their families and forced to live a life of crime such as the characters in the film. 




If you love music then the soundtrack is incredible it features the late  James Brown, Issac Hayes, Al Green, The Spinners just to name a few. I feel as though this left an impact on a generation lost they fought for a country that did not care about them or their civil rights yet Muhammad Ali was wrong for speaking out against this war and not participating in it. Find time to watch the movie and see what I'm talking about.

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