Lately, I’ve been a fan of social filmmaking, especially a film like this. Coincidentally I’ve been watching many films related to brutality against the Black community and this film really takes the cake.
Blindspotting (2018) by Carlos López Estrada is pure genius in itself and I’m upset that I had no idea about this film until I heard we were gonna watch it in class. This film is now one of my top tier favorite films in 2018. Blindspotting talks about how a man feels victimized and alone due to all the stereotypes people are putting against him. He’s black, has braids and was on probation for a crime. His whole life is a whole stereotype that people can use against him and in this film, we can see the implications of it too. I’m so grateful this film exists because this kind of film is needed especially today this where racial discrimination has just been increasing lately.
One of my favorite scenes of the film is when after his Caucasian friend, Miles lost his temper at a Black man and attacked him at a party. Collin kept asking Miles to say the n-word which Miles refused to say, which I thought was hilarious. I thought this was single-handedly one of the best scenes because he was basically saying that he's a Black man, but not in the eyes of the police. In a situation, if there’s a fight between these two, it should be the person who would have the gun (which is Miles) but because Collin isn't white, well, you would know the answer to that. Collin will always be stereotyped as a violent Black man even if he doesn't have a gun. This film doesn't just shed light on not just racial discrimination but racial profiling, police brutality, and gentrification.
There was a reading we read in film class, it was called “Black Love — Resistance and Liberation” by Alicia Garza:
"Black people get messages every day that we are not enough, that we are somehow deficient or dysfunctional. We are told that we are criminal, that our rightful rage is somehow violent. And, on top of that, different types of Black people get different messages about our supposed dysfunction based on how we present in the world: whether or not we have "natural" hair; our body shape and size; how we present our gender. There's very little that is not critiqued, vilified or criminalized about the Black body." (22)
The sad reality is that these stereotypes will always be around and people like Collin will have to face that for the longest time. What’s also interesting while watching the film is that not just Collin, but both him and Miles try their best to not follow that stereotype and become the total opposite. Miles acts what people would say ‘ghetto’ and act all tough, something that people would stereotype as a Black person while Collin, tries to not be that Black stereotype, but him being friends with Miles, somewhat always makes him the victim. As mentioned, with Miles having white privilege, Collin will always end up as the victim anyway because everyone will only see the color of his skin.
Another thing I’d like to highlight is the use of lighting in the film. They seem to try and set a certain mood for certain scenes like the stills above. The red ones were found during really drastic and serious scenes (eg: the policeman after shooting a Black man) while the blue ones are a little lighter and less serious than the red ones (eg: Collin and Miles at a party).
In conclusion, films like this needs to be popularized because if it weren't for my class, I wouldn't have watched this film myself. Filmmakers today should bring about issues like this to bring awareness and to benefit our future.
This review is also posted in my Letterboxd! Click here to see the review.
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