Round....Hell, I've Lost Count
Before I can even get rid of the feeling of being shaken like a rag doll by For Colored Girls, here comes the news that some other part of the brown experience in the world is being portrayed on film. YAY!! Wait, did that sound a smidge facetious? Our stories deserve to be told too; I do agree with that. Perhaps we just need a larger pool to pull from, or broader ideas about who actually is in the pool.
I'm going to opine.
The likely assumption is that I'm going to have a problem with Jennifer Hudson playing the role of Winnie Madikizela (how do I LOOOOOOVE the way that name feels in my mouth?) Mandela. I could see where one might surmise that, especially since it's what I expected of me too. I don't actually know Jay-Hud's work. I could barely stand the 20 minutes of Dream Girls that I did see. The X & I put it on 1 evening, both reached our breaking point simultaneously & decided it was best to rescue ourselves from suffering through 1 mo' tragic musical moment. In all honesty, it was Beyonce's participation that kept me from seeing it at the theater & errybody who kept me from stomaching it at home. I managed to miss Otinga's Baby Mama in Sex & The City because, well, I simply stopped caring about those ladies YEARS AGO. Because I'm a logical person, I'm well aware that I can't actually pass judgment on Jay-Hud's abilities to convince
After you catch the sneak peak that I did, you'll see Jay-Hud isn't the oddity in the cast. Before I even touch this, I must wonder aloud, or before your eyes rather, WHY we feel like we HAVE TO use American actors in order to portray international characters? Did we learn nothing, at the very least, from Taye Diggs in Waiting to Exhale? Le sigh... Anyway. Jennifer Hudson manages to be a decent enough stand in for Winnie Mandela. HOWEVER...I was greatly confused at the sight of my man Terrence Howard cast as Nelson Mandela. Insert Scooby Doo here. There are so many obvious reasons that this would be a bad choice that I'm not sure I should bother to type any of them. Ahhh well... 1. It doesn't seem the South African accent stays consistent on Terrence's tongue for long. 2. I know Nelson Mandela isn't the darkest brother there is, but uhmmm, Terrence Howard IS 1 of the lightest. 3. Was Adebize (Oz) busy? Oh wait, he actually is African, so it wouldn't make sense to use him. Where d'ey do dat at?
As I watched the trailer, despite Terrence Howard's strange positioning, I decided I'd check the film out when it hits the theaters. But noooooooooo. Then the trailer had to go & ruin it for me. Apparently whoever this film's director is, is super committed to old school methodology. Well, Sir or Ma'am, your choices have guaranteed (I'm probably lying) that I'll view this movie from my sofa ONLY. Thanks to you & your insistence on using makeup artist from the Ms. Jane Pittman school of cosmetology I will be unable to view your movie for a fee. In the words of David Arnold, I don't like it, I don't believe in it, & I can't support its existence.
View for yourself.
Watch me move.
Trailer: Hudson plays Winnie Mandela in 'Winnie' | TheLoop21.com
You know the deal. Hollywood thinks audiences are not going to run out and see a film starring Moshidi Motshegwa and Tony Kgoroge (two of my favorite SA actors). Although, I fail to comprehend why audiences would run out to see JHud and Mr. Baby Wipes either. "Winnie" director Darrel Roodt, is Hollywood's chosen South African storyteller--see Sarafina (Whoopi Goldberg), Dangerous Ground (Ice Cube), and Cry the Beloved Country (James Earl Jones). All of these films had wonderful South African actors in supporting roles, with Americans with bad accents in the lead. It's all about the dollars. They not rolling the dice that there will be too many films like Slumdog Millionaire and Tsotsi, starring unknown, foreign actors speaking foreign languages, that actually earn money. I will definitely be sitting this one out. I don't like it, I don't believe in it, and I canNOT support its existence either.
ReplyDeleteyou just made me cry inside remembering ice cube in Dangerous Ground. i was able to stomach sarafina, & james earl jones is just a good actor all the way around. but ice cube...lawdt!!
ReplyDeletetsotsi was that crack!! LOVE that movie!!