Although Black History Month is winding to a close as the end of February approaches, that doesn’t mean that the history lesson has to stop. In the grand tradition of film, the biography is an expansive genre that spans cultures, countries and races to bring viewers human stories of triumph and struggle. Whether they are accurate is another story.
There are tons of biographical pictures about black men and women, civil rights leaders, pioneers of the music industry, athletes that broke color barriers and many others whose personal battles created important ripples in history. Two new biopics just released this past month . The biographical sports drama Race just opened in theatres last weekend and freshman directorial debut The Birth of a Nation arrives straight-out of Sundance film festival.
Race tells the story of Jesse Owens, the black track and field athlete whose showcase at the 1936 Berlin Olympics plays an integral role in undermining Adolf Hitler’s Aryan supremacy vision. The Birth of a Nation, written, produced, and directed by newcomer Nate Parker (Beyond the Lights), shows how Nat Turner led an uprising comprised of free blacks and slaves in 1832 Virginia.
If the title of this film sounds familiar it is because it is derived from a 1915 silent picture that romanticizes the Klu Klux Klan, but is hailed as being a landmark of film history because of its directorial technique and aesthetic for that time period.
While biopics can be informative and entertaining, creative liberties will be exercised. Filmmakers are sometimes more concerned with manipulating human stories to evoke certain emotions instead of being historically accurate. Some perspectives and facts are bound to be neglected. Don’t always take a dramatization at face value. Look into these amazing, heartbreaking and unbelievable stories for yourself. Until then, here is a list of some of the best biopics in the last couple of decades to hold you over.
12 Years a Slave (2013): The true story of how a free black man, named Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), was abducted from upstate New York and sold into slavery in the antebellum south. Adapted from Northup’s memoir, 12 Years a Slave exploded across the 2013 awards season, garnering 230 wins and 305 nominations. At the Oscars, it won for Best Motion Picture that year and also swept up two more awards including a Best Supporting Actress award for Lupita Nyong’o (Star Wars: Episode VII) and Best Writing/ Adapted Screenplay.
Selma (2014): Stars British-Nigerian actor David Oyelowo as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, when the influential civil rights activist gears up for a massive and eventually historic march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama in 1965. Among other subplots, Oprah’s diligent Annie Lee Cooper serves as intimate analog to the struggle of blacks being unduly denied voter’s rights. As well there are other personal secondary stories of young people and supporters of all walks of life joining “The March for the Right to Vote” that tie into the focal storyline. While it wasn’t as large a contender during the 2014 award season as some people would have thought, the one category that the film won for at the Oscars, Best Original Song, was on full showcase that night. Common and John Legend’s collaboration on the sweeping ballad “Glory” lent itself to a crowd moving performance at the 88th academy awards.
42 (2013): Starring Chadwick Boseman who also pinned Godfather of Soul, James Brown, in Get on Up, 42 is the story of Jackie Robinson, the first African-American major league ball player. In 1945, he signed on with the Brooklyn Dodgers, shattering the color barrier in Major League Baseball 1947. A host of young actors give solid performances in this sports drama that tackles race relations, romances and baseball. Also stars Harrison Ford and Nicole Beharie (Sleepy Hollow).
Ray (2004): Biopics centered on musicians are often difficult to fully realize. Many have tried, and failed horribly, whether it be the result of a miscast, poor portrayal of the musician, inaccurate depiction of events or neglect to buy music rights. Trust, there isn’t anything worse than a music biopic that doesn’t own the rights to play an artist’s music. Why even make the movie?
Fortunately, Ray has none of these woes. A film that by all rights launched Jamie Foxx’s acting career beyond being a comedian, Ray depicts the personal struggles of Ray Charles. From his childhood in the south and going blind at the age of seven, to the R&B musician skyrocketing through the music industry in the 1950s and 60s, it explores his battles with his inner demons. Foxx gives an excellent breakout performance, blending seamlessly into the role as he portrays the highs and lows of the musician’s career.
Malcolm X (1992): Malcolm X is often thought of as the philosophical foil to Dr. Martin Luther King. In demeanor, in mindset, in practice, while they wanted essentially the same thing for people of color, the two went about it in very different ways.
Denzel Washington plays the titular protagonist in this three hour long epic chronicling the activist’s life. It follows his story from when he was a young boy, then Malcolm Little, whose father was killed by the Klu Klux Klan, when he found and converted to Islam in jail, to becoming an influential and controversial Black Nationalist leader. Last Sunday marked the anniversary of Malcolm’s assassination.
Zhana Johnson
Senior Features Editor
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