Entertainment

Film Review: ‘3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets’

Published

10 years ago

June 16, 2015

Oakland Post

Ron Davis and Lucia McBath, parents of Jordan Davis, at rally.

By Dwight Brown
NNPA Film Critic

Jordan Davis was born Feb 16, 1995. Contrary to his belief, he was not named after the basketball legend Michael Jordan. His mom, Lucia McBath, insists she named him after the crossing over of the Jordan River, symbolizing a new beginning.

For his mom and dad, Ron Davis, Jordan was their new beginning. Their lives were changed forever November 23, 2012, the day after Thanksgiving, when shots were fired at a gas station in Jacksonville, Florida.

Ten bullets hit a car full of teenage boys. When the violence is over, 17-year-old Jordan Davis, an African-American, has been killed by Michael David Dunn, a middle-aged White software developer in town for a wedding. The boys had been playing loud rap music; Dunn requested that they turn it down. They did for an instant, and then they turned it back up. What happened next depends on whom you talk to.

The 1950 film Rashomon, directed by the legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, depicts the accounts of the witnesses, suspects, and victims of a rape and murder. All have different viewpoints, recollections and interpretations of the same encounter. “Rashomon effect” is a term that means contradictory interpretations of the same event by different people. It’s a dynamic that pervades just about every trial, where suspects and victims recount the same experience, differently. That’s what’s on view in this so-called “loud music” trial; the surviving boys have a different recollection than Dunn.

Producer Minette Wilson initiated this project, and collaborated with documentary director/cinematographer Marc Silver (Global Protest, Who is Dayani Cristal?) and executive producer Orlando Bagwell (Eyes on the Prize). They received open access to the parents of the victim, his friends and the trial. The viewer sits around the dinner table with now divorced Lucia McBath and Ron Davis, is invited to prayer circles, hears anecdotes about Jordan from his pals (he was a mediocre basketball player, but quick on his feet) and gets to know the brassy suburban kid who was killed.

What the documentary doesn’t do is get inside the head of Michael Dunn. We don’t find out how Dunn became the adult who dared to ask a carful of teens to turn their loud music down. Nor why on a Friday night while stopping to pick up wine and chips at a convenience store, he was carrying a gun in his glove compartment. Nor what he ever expected to do with a loaded firearm. Without these details, this documentary sheds light on only one side of the tragedy.

The film calls into question stand-your-ground laws that have been drafted in many states making self-defense with a gun when a “threat” is perceived, legal. Echoes of the Trayvon Martin case are in this documentary. In fact Trayvon Martin’s dad calls Jordan’s dad and says, “I want to welcome you to a club that none of us want to be in.”

Though the film focuses on this crime in particular, it also brings into view a pattern of young Black men being devalued and murdered, which spurs many to think that this country has a chronic social/racial problem that has to be solved.

The gut-wrenching subject of the film carries the movie. Security footage from the convenience store re-plays the dramatic pop, pop, pop sounds of the gunfire. The court proceedings are riveting. Arguments for stand-your-ground and against it cause debate. Semi-private conversations between Dunn and his girlfriend are as intriguing as the conversations between Jordan’s parents. Both couples are common people who have been thrust into a media spotlight by an incident that none could have fathomed when they woke up that Friday after Thanksgiving.

What the documentary the filmmakers have assembled is educational, eye opening, often emotional, sad and galvanizing. As the 98 minutes of footage roll by, it becomes apparent that Jordan’s tragedy is a chapter within a much longer book. It is also clear that stand-your-ground laws are on trial as much as Michael Dunn was. Notes Judge Russell L. Healey, who presided over the case; “There is nothing wrong with retreating or de-escalating a situation.”

Visit NNPA Film Critic Dwight Brown at DwightBrownInk.com.

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Promise Marks Performs Songs of Etta James in One-Woman Show, “A Sunday Kind of Love” at the Black Repertory Theater in Berkeley

“The (show) is a fictional story about a character named Etta, aka Lady Peaches,” said Marks. “She falls in love with Johnny Rhythm, leader of the Rhythm Players Band and headliners of Madam G’s Glitta Lounge.” Marks channeled the essence of Etta James, singing favorites such as “Sugar on the Floor” and “At Last.”

Published

12 hours ago

December 18, 2024

Oakland Post

Photo Courtesy Of Promise Marks.

Special to the Post

It was “A Sunday Kind of Love” at the Black Repertory Group Theater in Berkeley on Saturday night, Dec. 7. The one-woman musical based on the music of Etta James featured the multi-talented singer Promise Marks

Marks, who wrote and directed the musical, also owns PM Productions.

Marks channeled the essence of Etta James, singing favorites such as “Sugar on the Floor” and “At Last.”

In between her soulful songs, Marks narrated impactful moments of the love story and journey of blues and forgiveness.

Marks sultry voice carried the audience back to an era that echoed with the power of Black music and a time of great change.

Marks said James shared love for the Black community by singing at gatherings during the Civil Rights Movement uplifting the people.

“She spoke to the movement, spoke to the people, and let her music speak for itself,” Marks said.

Backing the musical’s monologues, images and videos of Etta James are projected for the audience to view. While the production is fictional, Marks infused script with the unfairness and heartbreak James experienced while performing.

Marks performed gospel artist Donnie McClurkin’s “We Fall Down” as she narrated acts of reconciliation and forgiveness among the characters at Johnny Rhythm’s deathbed.

Marks, who regularly sings for the Miss America Pageant, was asked to perform as Etta James last year. “(At the event) a lady yelled out to me: ‘You’re Etta James!’ And then the audience went crazy. I said to myself, ‘I may have something here,’” she said.

Within 12 months, Marks created the musical production, which featured a dozen songs honoring “the great legacy of Etta James,” she said.

Marks says she was saddened to see how Etta James was often judged by the struggles in her life and wanted to offer attendees a more layered view.

“Etta’s life was so big. I want people to know that she was more than her drug addiction,” said Marks. “We can’t make that her legacy. Her catalog is too amazing. You can’t just be that and have the catalog that she (created). I don’t want the addiction to be the focus: I want her music, her element, her sassiness, and what she brought to be the focus – her woman-ness, that she was strong, and I wanted to honor that.”

Set Designer Nora Burnette says she created the set segments to mirror James’ life story. A set designer for BRG since 2016, she explained that her process of researching the scenario and the character serve as her inspiration for her design.

“I try to design a set as close to real life as possible so that the actress can deliver the performance sincerely,” said Burnette. “By creating the right setting, it helps the actors release the true essence of a character.”

The set brought the story to life and absolutely floored Marks. “Once Promise (Marks) saw the actual set, she understood my vision: ‘Wow, you get me. You get it,'” Marks told the designer.

Born Jamesetta Hawkins, Etta James, began her career in 1954 and gained fame with hits such “At Last” and “I’d Rather Go Blind.” She faced a number of personal problems, before making a musical comeback in the late 1980s with the album “Seven Year Itch.”

Co-producer and BRG Development Director, Sean Vaughn Scott, works with Overseer Production. According to producer Pamela Spikes, “Marks talent truly does Etta’s life story justice.”

Pam Jacobs of Hercules, a friend of Marks’ mom, Jackie Smith, said, Marks “was fabulous and sang all of those songs flawlessly.”

“I’m so proud of my daughter,” said Smith.

Marks, who has served as an instructor for BRG, will return on Feb. 21- 23 for an encore run of the musical.

“It’s an honor to be a part of the BRG (Black Repertory Group) family and continue our executive director Dr. Mona Vaughn Scott’s vision for the Black Repertory Group theater,” said Marks.

The Black Repertory Group Theatre is located at 3201 Adeline St., Berkeley, CA 94703. For information, visit: BlackRepertoryGroup.com

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Oakland Post: Week of December 11 – 17, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of December 11 – 17, 2024

Published

5 days ago

December 13, 2024

Oakland Post

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Black Talk Radio Network’s Recent Podcast Offers Perspective on Nov. 5 Election

“Time for an Awakening” is a Black Talk Radio Network program that runs on Sundays from 7-9 p.m. According to the program’s website, past guests have included Dr. Molefi Asanta, BaBa Ashra Kwesi, BaBa Runoko Rashidai, Dr. Leonard Jeffies, Michelle Alexander. Boyce Watkins, State of Black Farmers series and many others.

Published

1 week ago

December 8, 2024

Oakland Post

Dr. Gerald Horne, left, Obi Egbuna Jr., right. Courtesy image.

Special to The Post

University of Houston Professor of African American Studies Professor Dr. Gerald Horne and renowned speaker and advocate for Pan-African unity, Obi Egbuna Jr, were in conversation on the podcast “Time for an Awakening” hosted by Bro. Elliott and Bro. Richard on Dec. 1.

“Time for an Awakening” is a Black Talk Radio Network program that runs on Sundays from 7-9 p.m.

According to the program’s website, past guests have included Dr. Molefi Asanta, BaBa Ashra Kwesi, BaBa Runoko Rashidai, Dr. Leonard Jeffies, Michelle Alexander. Boyce Watkins, State of Black Farmers series and many others.

With the election in the rearview mirror, Horne, a historian, and author of “The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism” and “Jazz and Justice: Racism and the Political Economy of the Music,” raised the idea of a Black International Front Conference.

He described proposed locations and the need for independent political organizing in Black communities across the country, with a focus on local elections and alternatives to the direction of Black political leadership.

Joining the conversation in the second hour with valuable information was the External Relations officer to the Zimbabwe-Cuba Friendship Association, and former correspondent to the Herald, Zimbabwe’s national newspaper, Obi Egbuna Jr. A poet and playwright, Egbuna is most known for his passion in creating ties within and among the people and nations of the African diaspora.

He has organized chapters of the Pan African Student Youth Movement in St. Louis, Missouri, Seattle Washington, Charlottesville Virginia and Chicago, Illinois, Egbuna has also written several Resolutions to the United Nations covering a wide range of issues, including HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe and Police Brutality issues in the United States.

To listen to the podcast, please go to https://timeforanawakening.com/?powerpress_pinw=111154-podcast.

Sources for this story include Wikipedia and Time for an Awakening media.