Tag: Taraji P. Henson

Sam Rockwell (KKK leader), Babou Ceesay (Charrette leader) and TaraJi P Henson (Civil rights leader) confront each other.

THE BEST OF ENEMIES

Film Review by Marlene Ardoin

It is tempting to go see how superheroes are saving the world in “Endgame”, but in the film, “The Best of Enemies”, we are shown how real superheroes are saving the real world one choice at a time.

Sam Rockwell plays the leader of the Ku Klux Klan, C.P. Ellis, in Durham, North Carolina.

And, Taraji P. Henson plays a local African American civil rights activist, Ann Atwater, also from Durham, North Carolina in the 1970’s.

In my humble opinion, both Rockwell and Henson should receive Academy Award nominations for this film.

These are real people, who come to the conclusion, that hate no longer divides them, after they get to know each other while co-chairing a school desegregation charrette.

They somehow bond in the process and come to see that they have more in common than they realized.

Atwater and Ellis both had children that they cared about, both were struggling financially, both assumed leadership roles in their respective arenas, and they were both caring individuals.

In this film and in real life, Atwater decides to help Ellis, and vice versa.

He had four children, one of which was born deaf and blind. She hits an emotional cord in him, when she uses her influence to help that child.

She also respects his display of the KKK information, by protecting it from any harm.

When Ellis sees this, his stance against Atwater begins to soften.

While being the leader of the KKK, Ellis also started a youth group, which was just dropped, when no one else could fill his shoes.

Hate or love, these are the choices.

The choice to express love brings them both the right kind of recognition.

Ellis goes on to become a union organizer and Atwater surrenders her single mom status, then becomes a deacon at the Mount Calvary United Church of Christ.

Their willingness to be open to listening to each other, had a healing effect on both individuals, who remained friends to the very end.

In fact, Atwater did the eulogy at his 2005 funeral, which is not shown in this film.

The real Ellis and the real Atwater.

Wiki for “The Best of Enemies”:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_of_Enemies_(2019_film)

Actress Taraji P. Henson:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taraji_P._Henson

Actor Sam Rockwell:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Rockwell

Director/writer Robin Bissell:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/be-prepared/robin-bissell-talks-the-best-of-enemies/vp-BBVm5dH

https://www.productionhub.com/blog/post/triple-threat-robin-bissell-wrote-directed-produced-new-film-the-best-of-enemies

Reel vs Real:

http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/best-of-enemies/

Documentary of Atwater and Ellis friendship:

http://www.historyvshollywood.com/video/an-unlikely-friendship-documentary/

Interview with Ann Atwater:

http://www.historyvshollywood.com/video/ann-atwater-interview-best-of-enemies/

History of the Ku Klux Klan:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan

Ann Atwater:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Atwater

C.P. Ellis:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._P._Ellis

4/26/2019 # the Best of Enemies

(l to r) Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) , Mary Winston Jackson (Janelle Monáe), and Dorothy Johnson Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) are hired by NASA for their mathematics ability.

HIDDEN FIGURES

Film Review by Marlene Ardoin

After just five minutes of watching “Hidden Figures,” I was hooked into rooting for these three Black women, who somehow during the 50’s and 60’s, managed to get hired by NASA as mathematicians.

Trying to keep a critical eye, I have to say that the subject matter of this film has the same time frame as other films in this year’s crop, like “Jackie” and “Fences.” The characters in each of these films have the pictures of Martin Luther King, Jr. and John F. Kennedy up on the walls of their home.

Even though segregation was still an issue during this time period, these women, Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) , Mary Winston Jackson (Janelle Monáe) , and Dorothy Johnson Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) somehow managed to get a hands down great mathematics education under their belts.

Let’s face it, even today, in 2017, the United States is 29^th in math and science on the world stage.

So, what did these women do at a time when women were not even encouraged to educate at all?

After a little research, I discovered that each of these women were educated in an all-Black University. So, they did not have to deal with the pressure to be subservient or less than what they were capable of being.

One other observation was that, they were each light-skinned, straight-haired in appearance, which also removed a few other barriers in a world that sees the dominant group through this lens.

Mathematics is not boring in this film.

Katherine kills it with her mathematical demonstrations.

Mary wins in court, when she applies to take an all-White, all-male Engineers course.

And, Dorothy made me laugh with her rationalization for taking a book that she needed out of the Whites-only section of the library.

Kevin Costner as Al Harrison, the director of the Space Task Group is convincing as the color-blind, fair-minded leader, who fixes the coffee pot situation and the bathroom sign situation, all while beating the Russians in the space race.

I have to hand it to these women, they are all geniuses when it comes to balancing marriage, children and careers.

They all were also teachers before being hired by NASA.

Dorothy was especially alert to the quickly shifting computer oriented times.

I lived through these times, but from the White privilege perspective. This was a time when many Whites became allies to Blacks. It was also an important time of the women’s rights struggle.

Sad to say, but many of the male protesters did not want male privilege to change. Thank you NASA for employing some enlightened male employers and leaders.

Taraji P. Henson as Katherine G. Johnson, a mathematician who calculated flight trajectories for Project Mercury.

Biography of Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Johnson

Biography of Mary Winston Jackson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Jackson_(engineer)

Biography of Dorothy Johnson Vaughan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Vaughan

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1/30/17 Hidden Figures