Directed by Mark Brokaw. Starring: Sarah Jessica Parker, Mykelti Williamson, Miranda Richardson, Beau Bridges, Paul James. Synopsis: A racially motivatged hate crime on a New England college campus leads the dean of that school to look inwards and question her own feelings and actions about race and prejudice.
This one is not what you might think judging from the box cover, at least that was my view. The story is set in the present day, its not a period piece, and though that surprised me, I think it does make the story more powerful in what it is trying to say, which to me is that we all have to look very close at our own feelings about other groups or types of people and we might not always like what we see. Nothing new or revolutionary, but still an important message.
Our story is set in Vermont at a smaller private college. (Don't think the setting in a place generally though of as 'liberal' but with an extremely small non-white population is an accident) The dean of the college (Sarah Jessica Parker Failure To Launch) is dealing with the day to day administrative things that a dean will have to when something fairly major comes up. It seems someone is leaving racist and threatening notes for one of the few minority students (Paul James) on campus.
Well, a big hullaboo enuses with local and national press converging on the campus and the majority of the story centers on the way in which the dean and the school administration deal with the media blitz, and the posturing that goes on from all sides: media, school administration, students, interests groups, etc. Of course, no drama would be complete without at least the inference of a romantic connection, and here the dean is (lightly) pursued by an African-American journalist (Mykelti Williamson Lucky Number Slevin Fatwa) who has landed in this New England outpost after some issues in Chicago, a place where our dean also has a little history.
I can't say Parker and Williamson heat up the screen, it doesn't get that far nor is it the point of the flick-just an underlying theme-but it is believable that there might be an attraction between them. I also think the scenes that show the interaction and political posturing of the administration (led by Beau Bridges Max Payne and Miranda Richardson Sleepy Hollow) in trying to determine the way the school will officially respond to the allegations of racism on campus and what will be done to heal the divisions that are getting wider with the college community. Very good stuff, in my opinion, because its so realistic.
Who was the one terrorizing the student with racial epithets? Well, that is revealed at the end of the movie and I won't spoil it other than to say I don't think many of you will be surprised. Also, don't think for a second that this is really some kind of suspense or mystery or whatever you might want to call it, the identity of the miscreant is really a sub plot to the main story, which is what happens when people look inwards honestly and don't like what they see.
Its a nice little flick, nothing more nothing less.
This one is not what you might think judging from the box cover, at least that was my view. The story is set in the present day, its not a period piece, and though that surprised me, I think it does make the story more powerful in what it is trying to say, which to me is that we all have to look very close at our own feelings about other groups or types of people and we might not always like what we see. Nothing new or revolutionary, but still an important message.
Our story is set in Vermont at a smaller private college. (Don't think the setting in a place generally though of as 'liberal' but with an extremely small non-white population is an accident) The dean of the college (Sarah Jessica Parker Failure To Launch) is dealing with the day to day administrative things that a dean will have to when something fairly major comes up. It seems someone is leaving racist and threatening notes for one of the few minority students (Paul James) on campus.
Well, a big hullaboo enuses with local and national press converging on the campus and the majority of the story centers on the way in which the dean and the school administration deal with the media blitz, and the posturing that goes on from all sides: media, school administration, students, interests groups, etc. Of course, no drama would be complete without at least the inference of a romantic connection, and here the dean is (lightly) pursued by an African-American journalist (Mykelti Williamson Lucky Number Slevin Fatwa) who has landed in this New England outpost after some issues in Chicago, a place where our dean also has a little history.
I can't say Parker and Williamson heat up the screen, it doesn't get that far nor is it the point of the flick-just an underlying theme-but it is believable that there might be an attraction between them. I also think the scenes that show the interaction and political posturing of the administration (led by Beau Bridges Max Payne and Miranda Richardson Sleepy Hollow) in trying to determine the way the school will officially respond to the allegations of racism on campus and what will be done to heal the divisions that are getting wider with the college community. Very good stuff, in my opinion, because its so realistic.
Who was the one terrorizing the student with racial epithets? Well, that is revealed at the end of the movie and I won't spoil it other than to say I don't think many of you will be surprised. Also, don't think for a second that this is really some kind of suspense or mystery or whatever you might want to call it, the identity of the miscreant is really a sub plot to the main story, which is what happens when people look inwards honestly and don't like what they see.
Its a nice little flick, nothing more nothing less.
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