Within Our Gates
It is easy
to be hard on ”Within our Gates”. Technically this is an awful film. I can find
tons of ways to deride this movie but that does not mean that it is not worth
seeing it.
Within our
Gates was the first black movie to be made, meaning it was made by
Afro-American, using Afro-Americans and likely for Afro-Americans. As such it
is an antidote to D.W. Griffith “Birth of a Nation” with the notable difference
that “Birth of a Nation” was technically ahead of its time while “Within our
Gates” is technically primitive.
I imaging a
bunch of guys saying: Hey, why don’t we make a movie? How difficult can it be? Then
we can tell OUR story. Man, that could be soo cool.
Then they
gather friends and family and dig up a camera from somewhere and start
shooting.
They do
have a story. Actually several stories, which to some extend interconnect. And
it is also a good story, relevant and touching. They just sort of skipped the
entire script part. There is a woman leaving the north to go down to the south
where there is a school chaired by a doctor who is struggling to keep it
afloat. The woman returns back north to raise money for the school. Other sub
plots involve the woman’s family and a black preacher who is supporting the
white elite keeping the blacks submissive.
It is a
good story with lots of good and interesting points. Unfortunately it is told by
showing people talking in front of a static camera and then driving the story
forward using lots of inter-titles. That means that the story does not catch at
all. Some scenes are way too long, while some are rushed. Some does not tell
anything and without the inter-titles those scenes would just be really
confusing.
The acting
is not really acting because acting implies that you are actually trying to
act. In fact it reminds me of the home videos we would do as children with
borrowed equipment.
In “Birth
of a Nation” I wished there was a worthwhile story to apply their superior technique
on. With “Within our Gates” I wished they had adequate technique to apply on
their superior story.
As it is it
is (again) one of those movies I am glad to have seen but not really inclined
to watch again.
Yeah, that's about it. It's not so much that it's incompetent as it is amateurish. It's not so much that it's bad as it is just dull.
ReplyDeleteBut then again I would not expect the first black movie to be a big and expensive production. I just wish they had made it a bit better.
DeleteThe thing that I found most interesting about this film was that the three "evil" characters - the thief, the preacher, and the gossip - all had far darker skin than the "good" characters - the school teacher, the administrator, etc.
ReplyDeleteThere used to be a prejudice among blacks that those with lighter skin were better than those with darker. Even in a film made by blacks for blacks, some stigmas still were kept.
Ironic really. I did not notice that detail, only the message that blacks are their own worst enemy, which is interesting in itself. And sad.
DeleteWe watched this in film class and a lot of people were really put off by how bad the production values were. I think Oscar Micheaux was a much better writer than he was a director, but at least he was a pioneer. He never had enough money to do what he wanted with his stories.
ReplyDeleteI would have loved to see what he could with a larger budget. It is such a shame that his story drown out in poor production.
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