Talk about something I could not disagree with more! If you follow me on Twitter it is no secret that I was deeply affected by this film. Clay’s review is evidence that we are, indeed, not a monolith. 🙂
I also loved the movie. It was not unlike Eve’s Bayou or a Gloria Naylor book with its lyrical, dream-like, deconstructed narrative. I have to say I think the notion of the white filmmakers drawing a line between themselves and the white characters in the film rings like over-reaching to me. The characters weren’t buffoonish. They were, indeed, poor — so was everyone in the film; so, too, is a large segment of the actual NO population. Perhaps I don’t see being poor as a stigma. So what there are poor people? The issue isn’t that some people lack material wealth but what we make that lack of material wealth mean in our society…which, by the way, was some of the point of the film. The violence of the state in forcing “help” on poor people who did not experience their poverty as something in need of remediation was one of the most moving parts of the film (beyond Hushpuppy, of course).
Rarely have I seen such an unapologetic, un-glorified portrayal of complex blackness (and gender! We don’t talk about that) on film. I rather don’t care if those who produces such a product are white. If Tyler Perry can exist then I think this product can, too.
ETA: This Colorlines review (via the endangered Times Picayune newspaper: a story in itself with interesting parallels) is more in keeping with how I felt about the movie.