We’re lucky to have the legacy of August Wilson’s cycle of plays set in Pittsburgh, and more films celebrating African Americans who came to Pittsburgh to survive, thrive, and change the history of medicine and sports.
The Piano Lesson (DVD-2265, and a later release, DVD-8211)
Alfre Woodard, Charles Dutton, Charles Gordon (1995)
(Rated PG) - From a forgotten time when Hallmark used their resources to make more than small-town romances. Alfre Woodard shines as Berniece, the sister who treasures the family’s upright piano with its intricate wood carvings that represent the family history. Boy Willie (Charles Dutton) blusters in, enthusiastic to sell the piano and buy the Mississippi farmland his family worked as enslaved people. August Wilson wrote the Pulitzer prize-winning play and the TV movie teleplay, and insisted the movie be filmed in Pittsburgh. Denzel Washington followed his wishes with the stunning “Fences” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” decades later.
“The Piano Lesson” is one of the more difficult of Wilson’s works, with a dreamlike sequence midway to demonstrate the conflict between remembering the past and moving on to a new life. There were rumors of a new version of the play coming to Netflix directed by Denzel Washington, so we’ll keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, we can appreciate Hallmark’s “Hall of Fame” production.
God Grew Tired of Us (DVD-1159)
Panther Bior, Daniel Pach, John Bul Dau; narrated by Nicole Kidman (2006)
(Rated PG) A documentary with none of the sometimes snooze-worthy characteristics of the genre. Four “lost boys of Sudan,” after years of walking a thousand miles through Sub-Saharan Africa to escape civil war, at last come to America in search of safety. The poignant title, spoken by one of the refugees, perfectly captures their dogged determination. The clash of cultures, and their experiences of learning to live in America make this an eye-opening and sometimes amusing story.
Scenes in a Giant Eagle illustrate our country’s wealth compared to the boys’ meager supplies in the refugee camps. One Pittsburgher in a “Blitzburgh” t-shirt explains a “hoagie bun.” Signs of Pittsburgh are everywhere – an Iron City Beer t-shirt, a 51C bus, and shots of Point Park, Downtown Pittsburgh, the Incline, and the William Penn Hotel. Favorite line: “God does not create me as a very tall person for nothing. I was born to do something.” One of the men, Panther Bior, earned a BS in Accounting from Point Park University and now lives in Castle Shannon. Another, Daniel Pach, earned his GED from Bidwell Training Center, attended CCAC, and now lives in Whitehall. The refugees came together to support each other, and found purpose in teaching Americans about Sudanese and Dinka culture. Very much worth seeing for what it shows about refugees, immigration, adaptation and survival.
42: The Jackie Robinson Story (BRD-106, DVD-7804)
Chadwick Boseman, Harrison Ford, Nicole Beharie, Andre Holland (2013)
(Rated PG-13) The story of Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball in 1947. A must-see, not only for Black History Month but for Chadwick Boseman’s masterful performance. “Can you control your temper?” asks owner Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) as he offers Robinson a place at spring training. “I want a player who’s got the guts not to fight back.”
We see this struggle as Robinson endures racism from his own teammates, from baseball fans and from opposing teams even above the Mason-Dixon line. In the South, Robinson experiences Jim Crow segregation and menacing threats from white supremacists. Wendell Smith (Andre Holland), a reporter from the nationally-distributed African American newspaper, the Pittsburgh Courier, becomes his driver and follows Robinson’s career throughout.
Not filmed in Pittsburgh, but one scene reconstructs Forbes Field, with the Carnegie Museum, CMU’s Hamerschlag Hall, and Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning in the background. Also, Pittsburgh is used as a punch line in a few hilarious scenes. Harrison Ford plays the cigar-chomping, gruff-voiced Rickey as an owner interested in profit (“Dollars aren’t black and white, they’re green”) but also in equality (“The day belongs to decent-minded people”). My heart was in my throat as I watched Boseman say to his infant son, “You will remember me.” A great biopic, very well done.
Concussion (DVD-8114)
Will Smith, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Alec Baldwin, Albert Brooks (2015)
(Rated PG-13) Will Smith plays the accomplished pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu (whose education includes an MBA at CMU), investigating brain damage in football players who suffer repeated concussions. The fact that this research and the movie took place in this football town lends even more weight to Omalu’s discoveries. Smith portrays his exquisite tenderness towards the victims he examines, and his courageous advocacy for their lives. Albert Brooks plays Dr. Cyril Wecht, our county coroner, and it’s fun to see his portrayal on screen. Gugu Mbatha-Raw, the love interest, has her own story as she endures threats from hostile forces. Alec Baldwin is memorable as the team doctor, who reckons with past guilt - “I just kept sending them out there.” He knows football is “a mindless, violent game - and then, it’s Shakespeare.” David Morse and others portray former players tormented by mental illness and pain, and their piteous cries will stay with you long after the movie ends.
My coworkers can tell you I’m not a sports fan, so my visceral reactions to the bone-crunching hits were never the excited “He got Jacked Up!” cheers of the announcers. I’m glad Olmalu’s work, and this movie, pushed the NFL to change its concussion protocols and helmet designs, so apparently football might be safer these days. One can only hope.
There are many shots of the rivers, the Point, the North Side, etc. My favorite comes right after a love scene, a soaring, sparkling night-time view of the lights of PPG Place and Downtown. Heinz Field, which one character describes as “the beating heart of this city,” features in many shots, seeming to lurk behind the dialogue as a character in itself. I think Will Smith deserved more credit for his acting, and the movie deserves more attention for what it says about sports, money, and fandom.
Fences (DVD-7596)
Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Jovan Adepo (2016)
(Rated PG-13) From August Wilson’s play. Denzel Washington directed and starred as Troy Maxson, a city sanitation worker in the 1950s who dreamed of playing baseball, but was denied a chance in the major leagues and aged out of the black baseball leagues as they emerged. His wife Rose (Viola Davis), lives with his disappointment and tries to hold him up through it all. Cory, his son (Jovan Adepo) dreams of playing football, an opportunity that might now be open to him, but his father berates him to find a more practical living.
Denzel Washington and Viola Davis are astounding – I could watch this many times for their multilayered performances. Their sparring is electrifying, memorable, real. The skyline of Pgh was altered to look like the ‘50s, and the street shots are from the Hill District. But beyond the shooting location, the film resonates universally. In his book Can You Hear Me Now? Michael Eric Dyson describes August Wilson’s “unyielding attention to the specific details of black life. What it means for black identity to be assaulted … by racial oppression, economic misery. But elevated because, in his plays, moral vision is not the property of the elite. There’s ethical wisdom in the everyday struggles of black people.” These everyday yet epic struggles show in the faces of Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, and in the performances of the supporting cast. I’d recommend “Fences,” and the other movies in this review, not just for Black History month but any time you can watch them.
Reviewed by Jan Hardy, Library Specialist