Black History Month
5 Historical Dramas to Watch, plus a bonus indie film!
In honor of Black History Month, I wanted to share and suggest five films I’ve loved over the years! Broadly, these films tell the stories of black Americans living during the Civil Rights Movement.
This list is by no means comprehensive! I’m sure you, my readers, could inform me of more! And of course, Black History goes back beyond the 1960’s. But these are the five that come to mind when I think of compelling movies that convey the problems and history of racism in my country through the lives and actions of ambitious and determined individuals!
One more caveat: the first three films I’m highlighting feature strong leading ladies. They are female-centric stories (that men should watch too)! The second two films have men in the lead roles, but there are strong supporting women involved. So, I figured, I’ll include them too.
The Help
Family-friendly, funny, heart-warming
This film came out in 2011, the year I graduated from high school! I loved it so much when I first saw it that I had a movie night to show it to my friends. I’ve seen it multiple times since, and it’s always a good time.
The Help is about a recent college graduate and aspiring writer, Skeeter, who sees how her peers treat their maids. She decides to interview them and help them tell their stories through the written word. In Louisiana, in the 1960s, Skeeter and her maid friends Aibileen and Minny could get into very real legal trouble and potentially be physically harmed for their association.
But Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny are determined to create change. The three of them together make for a mischievous trio, and viewers feel great satisfaction at the way their antics reveal either the incredible racism or, in one case, the incredible kindness of their employers. In the end, their efforts lead to better treatment and more equality for the black community in the town. Still, the story makes clear, and real life testifies, that we still had, and have, a long way to go.
This was the movie that introduced me Octavia Spencer (Minny), who won an Oscar for the role, Emma Stone (Skeeter), and Jessica Chastain (Celia Foote). These three leading ladies were early in their careers here; they’ve done a lot of notable work since. Viola Davis plays a wondrous, maternal Aibileen, and she narrates the film as well.
The Help is PG-13 for mature themes and an iconic scene in which Minny employs the word sh*t — I can hear it even now in my head. However, I believe age 11 or so and above would be an appropriate viewing age, provided they watch with their parents and discuss it afterwards!
I’ll also mention, the book is quite a fun read!
Watch on Hulu.
Hidden Figures
Family-friendly, inspiring, and feel-good
I really like this movie. I had only seen it once before, with friends, in theaters when it came out in 2016. And I’d been meaning to rewatch it since. Once I’d come up with the idea for the newsletter, I knew it was finally time. I sat down with it on Friday afternoon, and found myself completely caught up in the exciting events of the early 1960’s: the space race, and three incredibly smart and talented people fighting back against racism. But the part I’d forgotten about is they’re also fighting against sexism (and sometimes racism masked as sexism). They are black and they’re women, and that’s two counts against them at NASA.
At points I was honestly so mad on the behalf of Katharine Goble Johnson (Tajari P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer, nominated again for an Oscar here), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe). As Mary points out, every time they get close to the finish line, the finish line gets moved. It seems they cannot get the the jobs and the credit (and the pay) they deserve.
When Katharine finally starts getting the chance to prove herself on the Space Task Group, solving insane mathematical equations with a piece of chalk on a blackboard to put a space ship in orbit around the earth and bring it back down safely, the winds of change start blowing. It’s such a relief after so many frustrating scenes of prejudice and mistreatment. And one feels so grateful that, at an institution upholding racism, there were people, like Katharine’s director Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), who saw her as a viable candidate and talented mathematician, regardless of her gender or race.
The women bear it all with such poise. At one point I noticed that Katharine always walks with her chin in the air, head held high. I admire the persistence.
The wonderful thing about both The Help and Hidden Figures is there is so much showing. One criticism of the recent blockbuster Barbie and its treatment on feminist issues is that there is a lot of talking, over-explaining, preaching. In The Help and Hidden Figures, no character needs to give a speech to explain the racism and inequality. It’s unfolding in front of my eyes, through plot and dialogue.
You can’t help but root for Katharine, Mary, and Dorothy even as the backwards thinking at an institution aimed at progress boggles the mind. How could we try to put men in space while still upholding segregation principles like colored bathrooms and a separate coffee pot with brown mugs (versus white)? It’s incomprehensible. Yet, it happened 60 years ago, and is still happening, in some ways, today.
Even beyond their persistence and poise, I’m inspired by how the work of these women literally changed history. Also, as someone who is far more at home in the humanities disciplines, the math and science aptitude on display is maybe the most incomprehensible of all. There are people whose minds work this way?! Unbelievable. Those gifts don’t run in my family.
And my favorite line is the one Katharine delivers to her suitor and future husband Jim Johnson (Mahershala Ali), when he wonders how women have the mental energy to work at NASA: “ …yes they let women do something at NASA, Mr. Johnson, and it’s not because we wear skirts. It’s because we wear glasses.”
Watch on Disney+ and Hulu.
Loving
Drama, Romance, and Teen-Friendly
I have to say, between Hidden Figures, BlacKkKlansman (below), and Loving, the state of Virginia, my current state of residence, is not looking too good. There is a strong history of racism here.
Loving is a true account of the circumstances of a white man and black woman’s love story and marriage that led to the 1967 Supreme Court decision to legalize interracial marriage in all 50 states.
Apparently, there is more to the story, according to this article in Time Magazine, although the film does stay true to life for the most part. The article reminded me of another film, Passing (2021, Netflix), that I have been meaning to watch. I’m glad it’s now back on my radar!
I confess that I’ve only seen the film once, but the memory of it has stuck with me. I don’t know that I’d learned the history of that massive Supreme Court decision before watching Loving. Additionally, this film earned Ruth Negga, who plays Mildred, Richard Loving’s wife, an Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.
If you visit Virginia, you’ll notice Love signs everywhere. “Virginia is for Lovers” is our state slogan. Apparently it has nothing to do with the Lovings, but I would like to think it does: Richard Loving loved and married a black woman, Mildred. They are from Virginia and, together, they made interracial marriage possible. Wouldn’t that be a better story for how “Virginia is for Lovers” came to be?
Rent Loving on Apple TV+.
Selma
Serious, Challenging, Intense
Again, this is a film I’ve only seen once. But it was powerful, and it is important. I remember thinking, I need to watch this again and everyone else should see it, too.
Selma tells the story of the moment in the Civil Rights Movement when Martin Luther King decided to lead a campaign, a march, from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in order to gain equal voting rotes for black citizens.
Unlike the previous three films I’ve suggested, Selma is more intense, with depictions of violence. It’s rated PG-13, but I would say it’s appropriate for older teens and, again, would recommend it as a family movie night in order to discuss the mature and disturbing elements.
I personally would like to watch it again, as, like the other films I’m mentioning here, Selma is about true events that changed history. And, like the others, Selma earned an Oscar nominations and win.
Watch on Prime.
BlacKkKlansmen
Funny, suspenseful, unique
This was another one I felt I needed to rewatch before recommending. When I first saw it in Brooklyn in 2018, it made an impression. Ben and I sat down to watch it last week and at the end of it we said, “that is a tight movie.”
It really does move. Little to no time is wasted jumping right into the plot, based on the memoir of Ron Stallworth (John David Washington), the first black cop in Colorado Springs, who goes undercover and starts infiltrating the local KKK branch, with the help of his colleague, Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver).
And once contact is made and Flip impersonates Ron to “the organization” members, the movie takes off. For me, it’s just the right amount of intensity. And while there’s plenty of language, sexual innuendo, and racial slurs to qualify this film as rated R, the violence is minimal, and really only shows up in the live footage at the end.
If you’re up for a challenging story that is almost too preposterous to be true, for a movie that keeps you just on the edge, eager to see how it all comes together, and for some comedy that is maybe a wee-bit uncomfortable, this is for you.
I think I liked this movie even more the second time. And while some of Spike Lee’s artistic choices are potentially controversial, upon watching it again, I think we need it.
BlacKkKlansman was nominated for multiple Academy Awards, and won for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Did I mention I’ve met both Spike Lee and Adam Driver (on separate occasions)? I’ll have to save those stories for another time.
On another note, watching this sent Ben and I down the rabbit hole of the musician and activist Daryl Davis. Read about him. Watch his videos. Fascinating.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy one or more of these films, and let me know what you think! Would you add anything to this list?