Ta-Nehisi Coates words come to life

With his critically acclaimed non-fictional work, Between the world and me, Ta-Nehisi Coates bared himself. Writing the book as a letter to his then 15-year-old son, Coates unearthed memories of his childhood in West Baltimore, then moved when his son was born and into the present day. Between the world and me was released in 2015, just before Trump brought America’s rotten core back to life. In the years that followed, social media and the ubiquity of cameraphones amplified the black death in the media. Police brutality, the inflexible struggle against darkness and an exhausting presidential electoral cycle have dominated our daily lives. With the story behind him and the events of his own black life in his memory, the reporter could not have predicted our current state when his manuscript was first published. Still, the author ended up being pretty specific. Coates was brutally realistic about black life even then. In the HBO film adaptation of New York Times bestseller, its words echo on the screen, burrowing into our past and leaving clues to the future of black America and this country.

Between the world and me was filmed in August 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic and after the deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery – again, the most heinous parts of our nation had been exposed. Apollo Theater director and executive producer Kamilah Forbes uses the current climate as a backdrop, creating a tapestry of history, art and imagery for Coates’ words. With the resounding presences of Mahershala Ali, Angela Bassett, Angela Davis, Jharrel Jerome, Joe Morton, Wendell Pierce, Phylicia Rashad, Mj Rodriguez, Susan Kelechi Watson, Oprah Winfrey and Coates himself, among countless others, Forbes transforms the the author’s work in a visual ode to the struggle, love and life of blacks.

Amid COVID-19 restrictions, many productions have used Zoom-style setups for their projects, forcing their subjects into narrow, confined boxes. In contrast, using his theatrical experience, Forbes broadens his reach into the black diaspora, filming his subjects in their private spaces and using Coates’ memories, photos and words to anchor the material. Instead of feeling confined, the director creates an intimacy supported by a story of both joy and rage. Words spoken in Between the world and me come straight from the pages of Coates – they include the poverty and discouragement he witnessed in Baltimore from his youth, as well as the euphoria and awe he witnessed at Howard University, a place he calls “Mecca”. Yet by superimposing archival footage, speeches, artwork and music onto the film, the production overtakes Coates to reach all blacks.

With an approximate runtime of 80 minutes, Between the world and me is generally steady and well paced, although some times stay longer than others. All the while, Coates’ pragmatic and realistic view of the world is woven throughout the play. There are moments that will make you sit down, like watching Angela Davis speak angrily about the past and the present. There are also moments of resounding joy: Coates remembers falling in love with Howard University, then three different women, including his son’s mother while attending HBCU. Later, he talks about returning home and returning to Mecca, this time with his son in tow.

Pain and loss are the most dominant emotions in this piece. Coates clings to a simmering rage over a slain friend. Prince Carmen Jones was a bloody young man, murdered twenty years ago in Virginia by a police officer who accused Jones of trying to run him over. Later, Phylicia Rashad speaks as Mabel Jones, the mother of Prince, the tenant’s daughter who described the agony of losing her son. She remembers her death in the Jeep she brought him for her 23rd birthday. Along with Ms Jones are the sweet words of Tamika Palmer, Breonna Taylor’s mother, who spoke of waiting all night and day in the cold spring weather, before someone found the courage in him. to say that her child was gone.

More than bringing Coates’ lyrics to life and connecting the past to the present, Forbes strives to ensure that black women are seen here. Coates talks about his wife, who was once told she was “pretty for a dark-skinned girl.” (Like black men, black women have been weighed down heavily by the original sin of the United States.) Whether it was by incorporating the words of Mrs. Palmer and Mrs. Jones or Coates’ reflections on a woman who was damned by the slavery, Forbes never lets you forget that black women suffered as much as black men.

Black gaslighting has a long tradition in this country – we have been accused of complaining too much or being angry for no reason. Seeing Coates’ words come to life as he remembers a white woman pushing her then 4-year-old child as he trotted down a New York street should remove any doubt. Between the world and me This is not an optimistic and hopeful assessment of what will become of this country or the black people who built it. Instead, Coates, through the lens of Forbes, delivers the truth. The film discusses black bodies on sale in New York’s financial district long before it was named Ground Zero, why respectability doesn’t save black bodies and the fear black people live with every day.

While Between the world and me offers no plan for change, it offers something else. Coates, Forbes and all of the amazing black faces seen here remind us that black people fought to be here. If the fight remains hard won, this alone is worth the moments of joy, these moments of reprieve.