Speculative & Historical Black Cinema Worth Your Attention

When The Help is the most trending film on Netflix amongst a mass stand against systemic injustice, the time has come for a Cinematic Intervention. In just two weeks following the murder of George Floyd, which ignited global protests in condemnation of Black deaths from Tamir Rice to Breona Taylor, a frighteningly large portion of the (white) population had the urge to finally learn about Black issues via…*ahem*…The Help. Yes, The Help – that film directed by Tate Taylor…he of the classically problematic film…*ahem*…Chicken Party. For all the People of the Sun, and all of our beautiful allies, the following list is of films for/by/about Black-African issues representing a range of genres, but all with the appropriate energy to match the times.  Ranging from verified cinematic masterpieces to discarded auteur pieces, the following selection of films stand the test of time like Dapper Dan. Why eat sh!t cake when you’ve got the rum cake for the revolution right here? The Battle of Algiers (Dir: Gillo Pontecorvo)

Arguably one of the greatest war films of the 20th century, if not just the most accomplished visual art on the nature of resistance, The Battle of Algiers is Revolutionary Viewing 101.  The neorealist nature of the images, the urgency of the score, and the humanity portrayed in this film on the Algerian resistance to French occupation in the 1950’s ushered in a new aesthetic of politicized film in both Africa and Latin America. Notably, the Assistan…